HRH Miteb Bin Abdullah, Minister of the Saudi Arabian National Guard (SANG) and the third oldest son of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz, recently visited Washington to meet with President Obama and other senior officials to discuss strengthened bilateral cooperation between the U.S. Department of Defense and SANG.
The National Guard is one of three major branches of the Saudi Arabian armed forces, and does not fall under the leadership of the Ministry of Defense. During his visit Prince Miteb made an interesting observation about SANG, noting that the, “National Guard plays two important roles — military and defense role with the Defense Ministry, and military and security role with the Interior Ministry.” In fact, SANG is a unique institution that is equipped to address both internal and external security and defense contingencies.
It is the largest military force in Saudi Arabia 100,000 personnel in 2011 as compared to 75,000 for the regular army, 34,000 for the air force and 15,500 for the navy. It has become a modernized military force.
HRH King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz (pictured here in 1962 when he was 38-years old) and SANG Commander from 1962 – 2010 is widely considered the father of the Saudi Arabian National Guard.
It wasn’t always this way. The Saudi Arabian National Guard traces its history back to the Ikhwan which was a religious militia comprised of nomadic tribesmen that played an important role for the founder of modern Saudi Arabia, Abdulaziz Abdulrahman Al-Saud (Ibn Saud), as he consolidated Arabia into a unified state between 1902 and 1932. Ultimately, Ibn Saud had to confront and eliminate the Ikhwan; defeating and disbanding it in 1929. The successor to the Ikhwan was The Office of Jihad and Mujahadin but more commonly known as the ‘White Army’ due to the traditional Arab dress of the Bedouin fighters. The ‘White Army’ officially became SANG in 1954 and by 1960 it numbered about 18,000 militia and many of these served locally with their respective tribes.
HRH King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz (pictured here in 1962 when he was 38-years old) and SANG Commander from 1962 – 2010 is widely considered the father of the Saudi Arabian National Guard. He was its leading political patron and initiated and supervised its modernization 1970s beginning a close Security Assistance relationship with the U.S. Army and, through the Army’s SANG office, the Vinnell Corporation which at one time employed close to a 1,000 U.S. Vietnam veterans.
SANG forces were quickly deployed and fought well at the Battle of Khafji in the 1991 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
Prince Miteb succeeded his father as SANG Commander in 2010 and in 2012 the SANG portfolio was elevated to Minister level. Under Prince Miteb’s leadership, SANG continues to modernize and to work closely with the U.S. military.
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#SaudiTBT (Throwback Tuesday/Throwback Thursday) is a recurring SUSTG feature that revisits striking images from Saudi Arabia’s past. These images recall the Kingdom’s rich history and provide an opportunity to learn more about a key event, influential personalities or significant political, cultural or social milestones.
