AIR force personnel are getting the chance to brush up on their Arabic before possible postings to the Middle East.

Military and civilian staff at RAF Leeming are being offered Arabic courses to give them a better understanding of the people, their language and culture.

The course was developed by one of the county council's community cohesion workers, Nasr Emam, with Ian Marr of the Bedale community education service.

Every week, Mr Emam holds courses for more than 20 staff at the base, teaching the basics of the language and talking about the culture.

At the moment, the course is still at the beginner stage, but there is a plan to develop it at intermediate and advanced levels, perhaps with a form of accreditation.

Nasr, who also speaks French, English and a little Spanish, said: "You don't have to become a Muslim to learn Arabic.

"What I'm trying to do through these courses is to give people a basic understanding of the language so they can carry out simple conversations and read some signs that they're likely to be confronted with. At the same time, we broaden the discussion to take in the culture and traditions associated with Middle Eastern life so that people have a better understanding of what is important to different cultures."

The learning centre manager at RAF Leeming, Alison Wilken, said: "The first courses have proved to be very popular."