Khamis Mushait
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Khamis Mushait (Arabic: خميس مشيط Khamis Mushayt) is a city in south-west Saudi Arabia, located 35 minutes east of Abha, the provincial seat of the Asir province in southwest Saudi Arabia. Until the 1960's Khamis Mushait was a small town of less than 50,000 servicing the surrounding mild-climate agricultural region. Since then its population has grown eight-fold to reach 372,695 (2004 census).
Three of the September 11th hijackers came from Khamis Mushayt. Walid Al-Shehri, Wail Al-Shehri and Saeed Alghamdi came from Khamis, while Ahmed Alnami was from Abha a nearby town that held the local airport. That they came from Khamis Mushayt and were called Al Ghamdi and Al Shehri, is not a surprise. The Asir region has always maintained a certain distance from the Government in Riyadh and has been a thorn in the Royal families side for decades. These are the two major tribes from the area and have been the source of several uprisings over the years.
[edit] Airport and air base
Commercial air service to Khamis Mushayt is via the Abha Regional Airport, located 35 minutes west of Khamis Mushayt proper. Multiple daily flights are operated to Abha from Jeddah, Dammam, and Riyadh by Saudi Arabian Airlines.
King Khalid Air Base (KMX) has a 12,400ft paved runway without customs facilities[1]. The base was designed and built by US Army and Air Force engineers in the 1960s and 70s[2].
Khamis Mushayt is one of the 6 main Saudi Air Force bases (the others being Taif, Jeddah, Dhahran, Riyadh and Tabuk). At Khamis Mushayt are F-15C/D, F-15S (a slightly downgraded F-15E strike variant[3]), Tornado IDS, F-5 (The F-5 aircraft were removed from KKAB in the late 80s and transferred to Riyadh). AH64 Apache helicopters and Blackhawks were based here for training and servicing in support of the armour and artillery schools at the King Khalid Military City close by[4].
During the Gulf War of 1990, US F-117A aircraft were based in Khamis Mushayt[5][6]. At that time, they flew from Khamis Mushayt directly to Baghdad or beyond and back to Khamis Mushayt.
[edit] External links
 Saudi Arabian City |
List of main Saudi Arabian cities |
|---|---|
| |`Afif | `Ar`ar | Abha | Abqaiq | Al Bahah | Buraidah | Ad Dammam | Dhahran | Ad Dir`iyah | Duba | Ha'il | Al Hufuf | Al Jawf | Jeddah | Jizan | Al Jubayl | King Abdullah Economic City | Khamis Mushayt | Al Kharj | Khobar | Layla | Al Majma'ah | Mecca (Makkah) | Medina | Najran | Qal'at Bishah | Al Qatif | Ras Tanura | Ra's al Khafji | Riyadh (National Capital) | Sudair | As Sulayyil | At Ta'if | Tabuk | Udaliyah | `Unayzah | Yanbu' al Bahr | |
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