page_title: Saudi Arabian Army
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Saudi Arabian Army / History
caption_attribution_description: English: A Royal Saudi Land Force M60A3 tank being transferred
context_page_description: The Saudi Arabian Army or officially Royal Saudi Land Forces is a land warfare service branch of the Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia. It is part of the Ministry of Defense, which is one of the two military departments of the Government of Saudi Arabia, together with the Ministry of National Guard. According to the IISS in 2018, the RSLF has approximately 251,500 active duty personnel.
context_section_description: The modern Army of Arabia has its roots in the Saudi state, which was dating to 1744, and is considered to be the birth year of the Saudi army. As of 1901 the ground forces was re-established as a separate branch of the armed forces with the starting of the modern Saudi state. and it is considered the oldest branches of the Saudi Arabia's military.
  Conscription lasted up until dissolved the War chancellery. Historically, the MoW was created to unify the armies of the state under one military power. It was existed until 1933, when it was renamed "Agency of Defence" under the Finance Minister administration as Agent. By 1944, the Agency was developed (MoD) and incorporated into the Armed Forces Inspectorate.
  Other events that led to an expansion of the Saudi Army were the Arab–Israeli conflict in 1948, the fall of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in the Iranian Revolution in 1979 and the subsequent fears of possible hostile's actions, and as well as the Gulf War II in 1990. In the year 2000, Saudi Arabia's government spent billions of dollars to expand the Saudi military including the Army. The current minister of defense is Prince Mohammad bin Salman, who was appointed on 23 January 2015.
caption: A Saudi M60A3 tank being transferred
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