Then, Major General Fahd bin Abdullah Al-Mutair, Commander of the Eastern Region and Commander of the Land Troops participating in North Thunder, delivered a speech in which he thanked the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and the leaders of the Islamic and Arab states for their patronage of this military exercise. The Arab and Islamic states are the Kingdom of Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Republic of Turkey, the Republic of Chad, the Republic of Tunisia, the Republic of Djibouti, the Republic of Senegal, the Republic of Sudan, Oman, Qatar, the Republic of the Comoros, Kuwait, the Republic of Maldives, the Kingdom of Malaysia, the Arab Republic of Egypt, the Kingdom of Morocco and the Islamic Republic of Mauritania in addition to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the joint Peninsula Shield Force. He disclosed that the North Thunder exercise represents a quantum leap in the professional military action reflecting rapid response and capabilities of the participating troops from the Arab and Islamic nations. "All kinds of military operations are successfully implemented contributing to raise level of the combat readiness of the participating forces," Al-Mutir added. --More 16:32 LOCAL TIME 13:32 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w