Makkah: The Saudi authorities have made unprecedented security arrangements to ensure a safe and secure Haj in the wake of the ongoing military operation against Al Houthi rebels on the southern border regions and the recent war of words between Riyadh and Tehran regarding the latter's purported move to misuse Haj for political purposes.
There are also elaborate precautionary and preventive measures to contain an outbreak of the swine flu pandemic.
So far, there has been no official statement regarding intelligence reports about any possible terrorist strikes during the Haj, which will begin most probably on November 25.
Special command
However, as many as 63,000 security personnel have been deployed to carry out security-related duties for this year's Haj operation, according to Major General Nasser Al Harfej, commander of the Security Forces for the Haj.
"These forces ... have been assigned to various security duties in order to prevent any untoward incident or attempts to undermine smooth movement of the pilgrims," he told reporters.
Speaking to Gulf News, Major General Khidr Al Zahrani, assistant commander of the Haj Security Forces, said that there will be a special command of forces to handle weapons and defuse explosives during the upcoming Haj.
"This unit of securitymen will be assigned to prevent smuggling in of any sorts of arms and explosives to Makkah and the holy sites. They will examine all the suspected vehicles at the designated parking lots and other areas," he said.
