QNA
Doha
Under the auspices of the Minister of Interior and Commander of the Internal Security Force (Lekhwiya) HE Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the security agencies in the country will organise the ‘Watan Exercise 2024’ from November 10 to 13, with the participation of over 70 military, security and civilian agencies, along with security forces from Italy.
Chairman of the Standing Committee for Joint Exercises and General Supervisor of the Watan 2024 Exercise Brigadier Mubarak Sherida Al Kaabi said the ‘Watan Exercise 2024’ comes in implementation of the directives of the wise leadership with the aim of strengthening the work and integration system, achieving effective coordination between the various military, security and civilian sectors in the country.
He said the exercise also aims at employing the logistical and technical capabilities available to the participating agencies, in a way that achieves operational integration and effectiveness in implementing joint tasks, to deal with potential risks efficiently and professionally in various normal and emergency circumstances, and during the organisation of major events in the country, and confronting crises and natural and environmental disasters, to ensure the protection of security and achieve public safety.
He noted that this exercise include more than 55 scenarios and training hypotheses, covering all types of risks and challenges, and they are prepared based on studies and strategic plans by a team of experts and specialists, based on the risk register and the outputs of previous versions of the exercise, which achieved distinguished successes and results that reflect the seriousness and commitment of all participating agencies in implementing their tasks to achieve the general objectives of the exercise. For his part, Commander of the Command, Control, Preparation and Scenarios Management Cell for the ‘Watan Exercise 2024’ Major Mohammed Ahmed Jaber Abdullah outlined the general timeline of the exercise, which is divided into six stages -- the preliminary stage, the readiness stage, the equipment stage, the office executive stage, the field executive stage, and the final stage.
He pointed out that these stages contain several axes, most notably identifying the objectives and target groups, preparing scenarios and the profile, in addition to holding office and field exercises, presenting the final summary and reporting the results to the leadership. The exercise sites include land, sea and air ports, vital military and service facilities, tourist sites, in addition to operations rooms, residential areas, main roads, commercial complexes, and a number of other sites, he said.
Director of the Public Relations and Communication Department at the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Engineer Mohammed Ahmed Al Dhahi explained that the ‘Watan Exercise 2024’ represents a joint effort that includes a group of government military and civilian agencies, in addition to the private sector and private institutions, aiming at enhancing joint work, cooperation and coordination to deal with security crises and emergency incidents.
He highlighted the exercise’s endeavour to simulate realistic scenarios, which allows participants to apply procedures and standards that ensure an effective and rapid response, enhancing the integration of roles between various military and civilian agencies in the country, in addition to activating the command and control mechanism to achieve integration of roles and implement the required tasks as quickly as possible.
Eng Dhahi said the impact of previous editions of the ‘Watan Exercise’ is evident in activating the joint work system and raising the level of readiness to face various challenges.
He added that the participation of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change in the ‘Watan Exercise 2024’, as one of the civil government agencies, represents an opportunity to measure and test emergency operational plans and develop and update effective response procedures for the various concerned departments in the ministry, through active participation in workshops as well as office and field exercises for various scenarios, in order to achieve the common strategic goals.
