RIYADH: The Royal Saudi Naval Forces concluded the “Morjan 17” mixed bilateral exercise with their Egyptian counterparts in the Red Sea on Monday, the Kingdom’s defense ministry said on Tuesday.

Ali Al-Bahri, the director of the exercise, said the maneuvers aimed at promoting cooperation between the Saudi and Egyptian naval forces to take advantage of the combat capabilities of both sides and exchange expertise in the methods of securing maritime navigation in the Red Sea against different threats.

He added that the drills were carried out in three stages, including theory, operation and evaluation. Participants were trained on vessels, ports and at sea and the exercise also included tactical scenarios, live ammunition and different marine maneuvers.