The US has moved its combined air command centre from Saudi Arabia to Gulf neighbour Qatar and will close all air operations there soon.
Rear admiral David Nichols, deputy commander of the air operation centre, told reporters US air operations would be shut down totally at Prince Sultan air base at Kharj, south of the capital Riyadh, by the end of the summer.
"The move was by mutual agreement with the Saudis," he said, ending months of speculation as relations cooled post-September 11th and Riyadh baulked at the war on Iraq.
"We already have switched," the air operations centre from Prince Sultan to Al-Udeid in Qatar, rear adm Nichols said.
The US Air Force has been using the giant Al-Udeid facility south of Doha to run air operations in Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa.
The revelation of the long-awaited move in the aftermath of the September 11th, 2001 suicide hijacking in the US, in which 15 Saudis led by Osama bin Laden, played a leading role, came during a visit by Defence Secretary Mr Donald Rumsfeld.
He flew into what had served as coalition air force headquarters during the Iraq war to meet troops at the base and Saudi leaders in the nearby capital.
The visit to a longstanding Gulf ally, the world biggest oil exporter, came after Mr Rumsfeld announced in Qatar on Monday that the US would reduce its military forces in the Gulf now that Iraq no longer posed a threat to the region.
AFP