Riyadh

The TSP research team have a premonition that the trail will, at some point, lead to Riyadh. Accordingly, they’ve prepared a briefing.

FROM: +++++ CENTRE ++++

TO: +++++ FIELD +++

LOCATION: + RIYADH +++

Riyadh is the capital of, and largest city in, Saudi Arabia. Located in the landlocked eastern region of the country, it has a population of six million. Riyadh is a dispersed city with individual hubs within.

King Khalid Airport [0402] is a major international hub located twenty miles from Riyadh city centre. There is a train to SRA Station.

Since the 1990s Riyadh has been subject to terrorist violence. In 2006 Saudi security forces stormed a suspected hideout of al-Qaeda in the city; a bloody battle ensued. In more recent years the threat has come from ISIS. Since 2017 Riyadh has been the target of missiles fired by Iranian-backed militias from Yemen.

On the other hand Saudi Arabia remains a critical financial support base for al-Qaeda, the Taliban, Lashka-e-Taiba (LeT), and Hamas. Saudi charity organisations based in Riyadh fund Sunni terror around the world.

Saudi Arabia has many organs of security and political control.

The Mabahith or General Investigation Directorate (GID) is Saudi Arabia’s main security service. The Mabahith has virtually unlimited extra-legal powers. It runs Ulaysha Prison [0307] in Riyadh, notorious for arbitrary detention and brutal torture. The Emergency Force, a special CT unit answers to the same presidency of state security.

The military secret service is known as Al Mukhabarat Al A’amah or the General Intelligence Presidency (GIP). Army special forces are grouped in the 64th SF Brigade: 85th SF Battalion specialises in CT operations.

The Saudi Arabian National Guard (SANG) is a private army often controlled by a rival faction of the Saudi royal family opposed to the army.

The Public Security Force is the regular police with its HQ in Riyadh.

The Mutawa are the religious police.

Riyadh

Al Yamamah Palace (0204): Official residence of the Saudi monarch. Effectively, a city-within-the-city.

Embassy Quarter (0207): the diplomatic area or as-Safarat is a special enclave run by its own authority. All the powers cluster here. There are plush hotels for Western visitors.

King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) (0305): Very recent addition to the city. Eighty-three buildings including sixty-one skyscrapers all designed as an integrated whole by Danish architects. A monorail runs between the main buildings.

King Saud University (0306): Saudi Arabia’s first public university opened in 1957. There is a very well equipped university hospital on campus.

Ulaysha Prison (0307): Notorious political prison run by the Mahabith.

Madina Al Munawra Station (0108): Riyadh’s brand new south-west metro station. The metro line runs across the city to the National Guard School, a distance of 25 miles.

Princess Noura University (0404): Largest all-female university in the world.

Mohamed Ibn Saud Islamic University (0405): Originally a sharia college, now a full university interpreting all subjects through an Islamic prism. Includes the state’s Institute of Arabization.

Olaya Medical Complex [0406]: Best of Riyadh’s three hundred private medical centres.

Kingdom Centre [0407]: 867-foot-high skyscraper with U—cutout. There are thirty occupied floors but the cutout allows the skyscraper to rise even higher. A skybridge crosses the U at the top of the building.

King Abdul Aziz Historical Centre [0408]: The old Murabba royal palace dating from the inter-war foundation of the kingdom. The complex also contains the National Museum, the National Library and the National Archives.

Qasr Al Hokm (0508): Riyadh Governorate, Municipality, and Police Headquarters. The restored fort of Al-Musmak, built around AD 1865, is regarded as the birthplace of modern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

SRO Station (0507): Railway station for the line east to Bahrain. The trains are modern Spanish designs.

SAR Station (0504): Railway station for the line west to Mecca, Medina and Jedda. SAR and SRO have now merged into a national railway company known as SAR.

Riyadh Air Base (0506) is a military facility. Overtly it houses the Royal Saudi Air Force’s flight school. It is, however, the air hub for special and black ops. The base is kept ready also for deployments by the USAF. US operators may be found within.

Al Rajhi Grand Mosque (0607): The largest of Riyadh’s five grand mosques is a veritable Islamic oasis.

New Industrial Area (0608): developed in the 1970s and also known as the Industrial City. Companies across the spectrum are based here but services are the biggest sector. The Ministry of Commerce’s office for dealing with immigrant labour is in the zone.

King Fahd Security College (0705): a facility of the Ministry of the Interior. All officers for the Mahabith and the Public Security Force study at the college for three years, and continue to be linked by its networks throughout their careers.

National Guard School (0706): large complex devoted to the training of the officers if the “White Army”. The school encompasses accommodation, malls and a hospital. Some of the training is delivered by the British Army.

180 Notes

It’s even harder to find a decent overview map of Riyadh than of Asmara. The brickmap is pretty rough as a result. Knocking these RPG aids together for fun does make one realise how bounded the knowledge available on the internet can be.

For once an approximate scale is included just to make the point that one cannot expect to walk anywhere in this city: the operators would stick out like sore thumbs.