Gaid Salah: “Some Malicious Circles Desperately Sought To Diminish Our Armed Forces’ Ability”

Major General, Ahmed Gaïd Salah, Deputy Minister of National Defense, Chief of Staff of the National People’s Army (ANP), stressed the importance for the Algerian army to observe utmost “vigilance”, arguing that the latter constitutes “one of the intrinsic pillars of success”, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of National Defense (MDN) on Wednesday.
“I would like on this occasion to raise with you a question of extreme importance since it constitutes one of the intrinsic pillars of success, in this case vigilance, which is in its general sense, to be aware of all changes and to be able to make a fair and correct reading of them, as well as to know the scope of their influence on the course of events and their evolution,” he said, quoted in the statement, during his working and inspection visit on Tuesday, to the 1st Military Region of Blida, west of Algiers.
The Chief of Staff of the ANP, who supervised, together with Major General Ali Sidane, Commander of the region, a broad-based meeting with the Command and Staff of the Region, the Commanders of the operational sectors and their Military Staffs, as well as the Unit Commanders, also stressed “the importance of the pioneering work and the need for its permanent adoption”.
“This is a conduct to which we in the National People’s Army, in accordance with the wise guidelines of His Excellency the President of the Republic, Supreme Chief of the Armed Forces, Minister of National Defense, Mr. Abdelaziz Bouteflika, give due importance to it, and which we consider to be the measure by which we assess the elements of availability and high readiness for operational and combat readiness of all our Army units,” he explained.
The Deputy Minister of National Defense further recalled, on the occasion, the “aborted” terrorist attack that targeted the Tiguentourine gas complex (South-Eastern Algeria) six years ago, stating that it was “the best example” of the great vigilance that has been characterizing all the meritorious efforts of the valiant ANP personnel.
He noted, in this regard, that this operation was “intended by various parties as a test of the capabilities and vigilance of the National People’s Army”, and that it has also been “hoped for, mainly by some malicious parties, to diminish the National People’s Army’s potential in terms of planning and successfully carrying out a military operation of such sensitivity, scale and conditions”.
The objective, he added, “was therefore the use by a terrorist act of abject practices, aimed at tarnishing the brand image of Algeria among the world nations. A malicious plan that has been a total failure, and I mean a total failure, both internally and externally”.
Major General Gaïd Salah stated, in this context, that after this military operation, “it has been shown, to all of us, from near and far, through the heroic actions of the National People’s Army, that Algeria has a solid Army that, with the protection of Allah the Almighty, will be able to defend it”.
“Popular vigilance will be used to build strategic vigilance”, he noted to this effect.
He also recalled, on the occasion, that “this qualitative operation and this proven bravery at Tiguentourine have had very positive national echoes, making the news among all the fringes of the Algerian people, who have shown more pride and admiration for their National People’s Army, whose bond uniting them has been all the stronger, because they have been more serene than ever for the present of their country and for its future”.
According to the Chief of Staff of the ANP, the Algerian Army’s status as a “worthy heir to the National Liberation Army” has motivated and continues to motivate the wills and minds of its elements to persevere in combining the objectives relating to the fulfillment of their constitutional missions, in particular the relentless pursuit of efforts to exterminate the remains of terrorism, to achieve the objectives of continuity and even intensification of the pace of steady development of the skills of their battle corps in the service of Algeria and in the staunch defense of its security and stability”.
“Such is popular vigilance, or in other words social vigilance, which will serve to build a strategic vigilance that aims to be a vigilance of the people and their awareness of what surrounds their country,” Major General Gaid Salah argued, while underlining that “true vigilance requires the support and mobilization of all Algeria’s loyal sons, with the feeling of being collectively and deeply involved in contributing, each according to their capacities, to the preservation of their country from any danger”.
He explained, in this regard, that for him, the true sense of vigilance means that “the whole people is aware of the blessing of security that reigns in the four corners of the country, and that he also knows that the great Algeria, land of millions of lofty Chouhada or Martyrs, with its glorious national history, deserves more conscience from its sons, a perfect understanding and full and complete discernment of the underpinnings and dimensions of what surrounds our country and the entire region, in terms of events and accelerated changes, as well as what this can generate as challenges that we must confront, and as challenges that we must win”.
Major General Gaïd Salah also argued that “one of the most important challenges is certainly the security challenge that the terrorism scourge can represent for our security and stability, and even for the stability of the entire region, which commits the National People’s Army (ANP), worthy heir to the National Liberation Army (ALN), because of its nationalism and jealousy for this homeland of glorious martyrs, and because of its commitment to achieving success in the duty, or even responsibility, in order to fully accomplish its protection mission of the motherland, under any condition and circumstance”.