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Arabia
Saudi king replaces military chiefs in shake-up
2018-02-27
[bbc] Saudi Arabia has sacked its top military commanders, including the chief of staff, in a series of late-night royal decrees.

Saudi King Salman also replaced the heads of the ground forces and air defenses.

The news was published by the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA), but no reason for the sackings was given.

They come as the war in Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition is fighting rebels, is nearing the end of its third year.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is also the defense minister, is believed to be behind various recent shake-ups in the country.

The service of the chief of staff, General Abdul Rahman bin Saleh al-Bunyan, is among those "terminated", said the SPA.

Various military figures have already been promoted to replace those sacked.

A series of political appointments were announced at the same time, including the rare appointment of a female deputy minister of labor and social development, Tamadar bint Yousef al-Ramah.

Prince Turki bin Talal was appointed new deputy governor of the south-west Asir province. He is the brother of billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who was detained in the anti-corruption drive and released two months later.

Times of Israel has more detailed info
“Termination of the services of General Abdul Rahman bin Saleh al-Bunyan, Chief of Staff,” the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) announced, adding that Fayyad al-Ruwaili had been appointed as his replacement.


Al-Bunyan was retired after he inaugurated an arms exhibition this week in Riyadh by the Saudi Arabian Military Industries (SAMI), the state-owned defense company, which has drawn several global defense firms.

“A military transformation is underway in Saudi Arabia,” Theodore Karasik, a senior adviser at the consultancy Gulf States Analytics, told AFP.

Saudi Gazette

RIYADH – Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman appointed Prince Badr Bin Sultan as new emir of Al-Jouf, replacing Prince Fahd Bin Badr.

In a series of royal decrees issued on Monday evening, the King made several key appointments of civil and military officials.

Prince Fahd Bin Badr was appointed adviser to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques in the rank of minister.

Prince Turki Bin Talal was named deputy emir of Asir and Prince Faisal Bin Fahd Bin Muqrin deputy emir of Hail.

Dr. Tamader Bint Yousef Al-Rammah has been appointed deputy minister of labor and social development.

Lt. Gen. Fayad Al-Ruwaili, deputy chief of staff, has been promoted to general and appointed new chief of staff.

The service of the Chief of Staff Gen. Abdurahman Al-Bunyan was ended on retirement and he was appointed as adviser at the Royal Court.

Prince Faisal Bin Turki has been appointed as adviser at the Royal Court in the rank of minister and Prince Sultan Bin Ahmad as adviser at the Royal Court.

New ministers
Khaled Bayari -assistant minister of defense for executive affairs

Dr. Bandar Al-Mushari -assistant minister of interior for technical affairs

Ahmad Qattan -minister of state for the affairs of African states

Sheikh Saad Al-Saif -deputy minister of justice

Abdullah Abu Thunain -deputy minister of labor and social development

Faisal Al-Ibrahim, deputy minister of economy and planning

Khaled Al-Shunaif
i –assistant minister of economy and planning

Muhammad Al-Mohanna
new undersecretary at the Ministry of Interior for security affairs, replacing Hamad Al-Khalaf

Deputy Minister of Labor Ahmad Al-Humaidan was relieved

Deputy Minister of Interior and Member of the Council of Economic and Development Affairs Ahmad Bin Muhammad Al-Salem was relieved of his duties.

Muhammad Al-Mutairi – new secretary general of the Shoura Council

Adnan Al-Humaidan -new president of Jeddah University

Shalaan Bin Rajih Shalaan, deputy public prosecutor

Abdul Aziz Al-Zoum – governor of General Authority for Competition

Mayors
Tariq Al-Faris -Riyadh region

Muhammad Al-Quwaihes –Makkah, replacing Osama Al-Bar

Reshuffle of defense forces command
The King made major reshuffles at the command of the defense forces. These include the following:

Lt. Gen. Muhammad Suhaim, commander of the Air Defense Forces, ordered to retire.

Lt. Gen. Fahd Bin Turki, commander of the Land Forces, relieved of the post and was appointed as commander of the Joint Forces.

Maj. Gen. Mutlaq Al-Azaimie promoted to Lt. Gen. and appointed as deputy chief of staff.

Maj. Gen. Jarallah Al-Olwait promoted to Lt. Gen. and appointed as commander of the Strategic Missiles Force.

Maj. Gen. Fahd Al-Mutair promoted to Lt. Gen. and appointed as commander of the Land Forces.

Maj. Gen. Muzaid Al-Amr promoted to Lt. Gen. and appointed as commander of Air Defense Forces.

Maj. Gen. Turki Bin Bandar promoted to Lt. Gen. and appointed as commander of the Air Forces.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Egypt to send legal affairs minister to Arab summit
2008-03-27
(Xinhua) -- Egypt will send its Minister of Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Moufed Mahmoud Shehab to the upcoming Arab League summit in Syria, the official MENA News Agency reported Wednesday.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit announced instatements to MENA that Shehab will represent Egypt at the summit slated for March 29-30 in Damascus, capital of Syria. Earlier, Abul Gheit noted that his country believed that the Arab summit needs favorable atmosphere to achieve its goals. The top Egyptian diplomat expressed Egypt's keenness to boost the Arab joint action and play an effective role during the summit, which is expected to discuss the pressing issues in the MiddleEast region.

By sending only its legal affairs minister, Egypt became the latest Arab country to snub the Arab Summit. One day ago, the Lebanese cabinet officially announced to boycott the upcoming 20th Arab summit, urging the Arabs to tackle the political crisis in Lebanon, which the Lebanon majority government blames Damascus for a negative influence. On the sidelines of a preparatory meeting Damascus on Monday, Saudi permanent representative to the Arab League Ahmad Qattan announced that he would attend the upcoming Arab summit on behalf of his country, ruling out the presence of Saudi King Abdullah or Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal.

Saudi's announcement to send a low-level delegation to the summit reflects the strained ties between Damascus and Riyadh overthe political crisis in neighboring Lebanon, where the presidential seat has been vacant since last November when the former President Emile Lahoud stepped down. A long-awaited parliamentary session to elect a new Lebanese president to succeed Lahoud has been postponed for 17 times till April 22.

Saudi Arabia and Syria support different parties in Lebanon, with Riyadh, along with its Western allies, backing the majority led by Saad Hariri in the Lebanese parliament while Damascus and its ally Tehran supporting the opposition. Saudi Arabia, together with Egypt, are blaming Syria for blocking the presidential election in Lebanon, which is denied by Syria.
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Saudi Monarch and Foreign Minister Boycott Damascus Summit
2008-03-25
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and his Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal would not represent the kingdom at the forthcoming Arab summit in Damascus, reflecting dissatisfaction with Syria over Lebanon. Riyadh's ambassador to the Arab League Ahmad Qattan, speaking on the sidelines of a preparatory meeting, said he would head his country's delegation.

The decision to send a low-ranking diplomat reflects the strained ties between Riyadh and Damascus over the deep political crisis in Lebanon. Syria and its ally Iran back the Lebanese opposition led by Hizbullah. Saudi Arabia and its Western allies back the cabinet of Prime Minister Fouad Saniora, which has been unable to push through any of its legislative program since November 2006 when six pro-Syrian ministers quit.
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