In rubbishing claims on social media that it was a military campaign, Hishammuddin explained that the exercise, dubbed “Thunder of the North” witnessed the participation of the airforce, army and navy from 20 countries, including Malaysia.

He added the military exercise – held at Hafar Al Batin – would begin today and carry on until March 4.

The joint exercise, Hishammuddin pointed out, had been going on for 15 years.

“While I have been consistent in stating that Malaysia is supportive of efforts to curb militancy, our Armed Forces have never taken part in any military operation in Yemen.”

Hishammuddin also pointed out the exercise was held north of Saudi Arabia, while Yemen is located south of the border.

“Thus it is clear the exercise has no link whatsoever with the military campaign in Yemen.”

It was reported earlier by SPA, a Saudi Arabia news agency that Malaysia was participating in a massive and “critically important” military mission there.

Hishammuddin also explained that the joint exercise would give the ATM the much-needed opportunity to understand High Availability Disaster Recovery procedures as well as methods to extract Malaysians from conflict zones.