Saudi Al-Jawf Air Base

Al-Jawf Governorate is located in the north of the country, bordering Saudi Arabia on the north, with an area of 50,869 square kilometers and a population of approximately 350,000. The northern province of al-Jawf is one of 14 emirates, the primary Administrative Regions of the country. Al Jawf [Al-Jouf, Jowf variants) was formed with the 1993 union of Al Qurayyat and Al Jawf regions. In the remote northern frontier region on the edge of the Great Nafud Desert, Al-Jawf and the nearby ruins of Dumat Al-Jandal, is an important city during the Nabataean, Roman and early Islamic periods. Saudi authorities closed an airport in the northern Al Jawf region close to the border with Iraq on 21 March 2003, shortly after the United States began military strikes on Iraq, residents said. The airport in Al Jawf, which also hosts a military air base, was the second to be shut in as many weeks. Arar airport, some 15 kilometres from the frontier with Iraq, had been closed since 06 March 2003. Flights to Al Jawf Airport, some 150 kilometres south of Arar, had been cancelled, travellers quoted airport authorities as saying. No reason was given for the move.