RIYADH: A bilateral exercise between the Royal Saudi Air Force and the United States Air Force kicked off at the King Faisal Air Base in northwestern Saudi Arabia on Monday. The strategic combat readiness exercise aims to raise the level of joint action and maintain security and stability in the region, the Kingdom’s Ministry of Defense said. Last week, the US forced Iran to release US military sea drones that it attempted to seize in the Red Sea. The incident came after an earlier Iranian attempt to seize an American sea drone in the Arabian Gulf on Tuesday.