The Wall Street Journal, citing US officials, reported that President Joe Biden's administration had ordered the start of withdrawing part of US forces and equipment from the Gulf region.

The newspaper added in an article that this step comes within the framework of reorganizing the US military presence in the Gulf and the region.

The Wall Street Journal also indicated that 3 Patriot missile batteries, one of which were withdrawn from Prince Sultan Air Force Base located in Al-Kharj Governorate, in the center of the country.

The newspaper quoted US officials as saying that the US Department of Defense (Pentagon) is looking into the equipment and training that Saudi Arabia needs.

According to the newspaper, American military parts have been diverted from the Middle East, including an aircraft carrier, to meet needs in other regions, indicating the possibility of further cuts.

She said that this step means that thousands of American forces may leave the region as well, and as of last year, there were about 50 thousand soldiers in the area.

The number was about 90,000 before that, at the height of the tension between the administration of former US President Donald Trump and Iran.

Heading towards Asia

From the State Department headquarters in Washington, Al-Jazeera correspondent Muhammad Al-Ahmad said that the most comprehensive reading of the report is that the Biden administration seeks to devote the strategy to orientation towards Asia, which is what former President Barack Obama worked on.

The reporter added that the Badin administration began to implement this approach with the escalation of the strategic conflict with Russia, especially China, and the developments taking place in the South China Sea.

The correspondent quoted analysts as saying that this strategy means dismantling a decades-long military presence in the region, but he indicated that Washington will keep forces and training programs, especially sharing intelligence information with its allies in the region.

These developments come at a time when Saudi Arabia is exposed to missile and drones attacks that are constantly launched by the Houthi movement towards the Kingdom, mainly targeting oil installations, most notably Aramco.