A New ’Ritz-Carlton’ Wave: Bin Salman Ousts ’Yemen War Prince”

Al-Akhbar Newspaper – Translated by Staff

After the "Blood and Oil" book release that exposes Mohammad Bin Salman, at the wrong time, the Crown Prince renews the courses of the “Ritz campaign” this time targeting those who work directly with him in the Ministry of Defense and the "Red Sea project".

Three years after the "Ritz-Carlton" campaign in Saudi Arabia, Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman returned to the elimination series of officials, princes, and those in force; in the name of "fighting corruption". It started a few days ago, by royal orders that eliminated some officials, most notably of which was Director-General of the Border Guard Lieutenant Awad Bin Eid Albalawi. He, two officers, and two governors of Tabuk were convicted by 5000 encroachments, which were remarkable as encroachments -according to the authorities’ narrative- of lands of the "Red Sea project” led by Bin Salman.

Few days and yet another decree was released, after the release of the "Blood and Oil" book. The decree targeted even bigger figures than the one before. A royal order, issued on Monday - Tuesday midnight, overthrew the Commander of the joint forces Lieutenant Fahed Bin Turki Bin Abd El Aziz Al Saud. The order says that it was: "Based on what was referred by his highness the Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense to the Supervision and Anti-Corruption Authority, regarding suspicious financial transactions that have been monitored in the Ministry of Defense and the request for investigating them, and what the Authority has raised about the existence of financial corruption in the Ministry, and its connection with Lieutenant General Fahed  Bin Turki Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, his highness Prince Fahed Bin Turki Bin Abd El Aziz Al Saud, and several officers and civil servants and others."

The importance of the decision stems not only from the fact that Prince Fahed and his son are members of the royal family but also because the Prince is one of the most important pillars of the Ministry of Defense (which is taken over by Mohammad Bin Salman and his brother Khalid Bin Salman, whose role in the ministry has recently expanded).  Moreover, the commander of the joint forces is considered one of the main military leaders of the Yemen war, whether by supervising operations there or supervising the creation of Yemeni militias that are collaborators for Saudi Arabia. However, the performance of Prince Fahed in this position since February 2018, even if unsuccessful, could not be a sufficient reason for the dismissal, especially with the inclusion of his son, and the decision is taken according to the scenario that has become common in the court of Bin Salman: fighting corruption.  Handing responsibility for failure to others, especially to one of the princes, is usually linked to something fundamental: suspicion of loyalty.  This leads to the question about why Prince Fahed was chosen as the victim of the new maneuver, and whether there is any fear that he would take an opposing move, especially since an officer of this kind in any country who leads the state's war abroad must be surrounded by reverence and honor instead of «framing cases».

The crown prince, always haunted by suspicion and distrust, has additional reasons at this stage to conduct maneuvers of this kind in front of the local audience and abroad. His battle is over "the image" in the West, as well as over the security forces. This battle is with the dissident intelligence officer, former advisor to Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Nayef, Saad al-Jabri, the one responsible for sensitive files (it is worth mentioning here that western reports began to investigate the arrest and the disappearance of Bin Nayef, with fears for his life). The Kingdom is experiencing exceptional economic conditions due to the outbreak of "Coronavirus" and the drop of oil prices, which led to increasing popular clamor against the corruption of the royal family, which requires media victims to alleviate the rage of the affected segments. It is noticeable here, in addition to the timing of the campaign, that it was careful to state that Bin Salman does not neglect in the war on corruption even those who are close to him, such as the princes of the House of Saud, but rather those who work with him directly, such as the Ministry of Defense or the "Red Sea Project".

In this context, perhaps among the reasons for the new campaign timing is the publication of the Wall Street Journal correspondents’ book, “Blood and Oil: Mohammad Bin Salman's Ruthless Quest for Global Power,” which mentions a huge amount of scandals for the young prince (whom Saudi electronic bots celebrated his 35th birthday a few days ago), including the extravagant celebrations for his coronation as the Crown Prince. All are scandals that shatter his image, which he is careful not to distort in front of the West, as well as the myth of "fighting corruption" that he leads. This came after his "renewal and transformation" plan in the kingdom collapsed, and his future vision failed as the dates of this vision proved, and none of it came true.