The US air force quietly deactivated its 363rd Air Expeditionary Wing at Prince Sultan Air Base, marking the end of an era of US air patrols to safeguard the oil-rich kingdom against Iraq, military officials said. Air Force Major General Robert Elder, the deputy commander of US air forces in the region, led a ceremony disbanding the unit at the remote desert base, an air force spokesman said. The base in Al-Kharj, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Riyadh, once was the home of the largest US air operations in the region with a state-of-the-art command center, thousands of troops, and squadrons of fighter jets, AWACS radar surveillance and tanker planes. But on April 30, US Defense Secretary announced that the United States would withdraw its combat forces from the kingdom, effectively ending a 13-year military presence because Iraq no longer posed a threat. The combined air operations center was moved out the same day to neighboring Qatar, followed by about 100 aircraft stationed there at the end of the war in Iraq. Pentagon officials say several hundred US military personnel remain in Saudi Arabia, performing tasks such as training and tending to military sales. The Pentagon consolidated its air forces at Prince Sultan in 1996 after a truck bomb devastated a US military housing complex in Dhahran, killing 17 US service members. Around 50 trucks were lining up outside the base Tuesday, ready to move remaining US military equipment to Qatar, while reception premises for coalition force were shut and placards bearing the sign "welcome to the coalition forces" were thrown away. **PHOTO CAPTION*** US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld (C) speaks to 'Coalition troops' at Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia. (AFP/File/Luke Frazza)