person:salman bin abdulaziz

  • Rumours grow of rift between Saudi king and crown prince | World news | The Guardian
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/05/fears-grow-of-rift-between-saudi-king-salman-and-crown-prince-mohammed-

    There are growing signs of a potentially destabilising rift between the king of Saudi Arabia and his heir, the Guardian has been told.

    King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman are understood to have disagreed over a number of important policy issues in recent weeks, including the war in Yemen.

    Cet article du Guardian qui met l’accent sur les rivalités entre le roi saoudien et son fils hériter du trône n’est, selon Mujtahid (https://twitter.com/mujtahidd/status/1103050802967531521), qu’un leurre, monté par MBS,pour effacer la triste impression laissé par le roi totalement incapable de réciter son texte lors de la dernière conférence à Sharm el-cheikh.

  • Is Saudi Arabia repaying Trump for Khashoggi by attacking Linda Sarsour?

    A Saudi-owned website considered close to the royal family claimed that Sarsour, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib are agents of Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood who declared a ’jihad’ on Trump

    Allison Kaplan Sommer
    Dec 10, 2018

    https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium-how-saudi-arabia-is-repaying-trump-for-his-support-on-khashoggi-1.

    There is nothing earth-shattering about seeing Women’s March leader and Arab-American activist Linda Sarsour criticized as a dangerous Islamist by the conservative right and pro-Israel advocates in the United States. But the latest attack on the activist comes from a new and somewhat surprising source: Saudi Arabia.
    Al Arabiya, a Saudi-owned, pan-Arab news channel closely linked to the country’s royal family and widely viewed as reflecting Saudi foreign policy, published an article Sunday strongly suggesting that Sarsour and two incoming Muslim congresswomen are puppets planted by the Muslim Brotherhood and Qatar to undermine the Trump administration.
    The feature, which profiles Sarsour, seems to cast her as the latest proxy figure in the kingdom’s bitter dispute with Qatar, and its bid to strengthen ties and curry favor with the White House.
    It also focused on two Democratic politicians whom Sarsour actively campaigned for in the 2018 midterms: Minnesota’s Ilhan Omar and Michigan’s Rashida Tlaib, who are set to be the first-ever Muslim congresswomen when the House reconvenes in January.

    The Al Arabiya story on Linda Sarsour’s links to the Muslim Brotherhood, December 9, 2018.Screengrab
    Headlined “Details of calls to attack Trump by US ‘Muslim Sisters’ allied to Brotherhood,” the article is light on actual details but heavy on insinuation.
    Activists like Sarsour, and politicians like Tlaib and Omar, the Saudi publication wrote, are “mujahideen” (a term used to describe those involved in jihad) – fighting against “tyrants and opponents of Trump’s foreign policies.”

    The story says the policies they are fighting include “the siege of Iran, the fight against political Islam groups, and [Trump’s] choice of Saudi Arabia under the leadership of King Salman bin Abdulaziz and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as a strategic ally.”
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    Tlaib and Omar, Al Arabiya asserts, are agents designed to “restore” control of political Islamist movements on the U.S. government by attacking Trump. The article says this effort is being directed by Sarsour – who, it writes, is purportedly funded and controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood - a claim it fails to provide any clear basis for.
    Tamara Cofman Wittes, a senior fellow in the Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, Washington, says it should come as little surprise to those familiar with the region that “a state-owned Arabic news outlet would publish conspiracy theories about people whose views don’t accord with those of the government that funds it.”
    Al Arabiya, based in Dubai, but Saudi-owned, was founded in 2002 as a counter to Qatar’s popular Al Jazeera TV station – which frequently runs material sharply critical of the Saudis – as well as other Arabic media outlets critical of Saudi influence and supportive of political Islam.
    The article comes as rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Qatar has heated up in recent times, with Qatar’s emir skipping this weekend’s Gulf Cooperation Council summit hosted by Saudi Arabia, which has led a diplomatic war on its neighbor for the past 18 months.
    Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and non-GCC member Egypt cut diplomatic and economic ties with Qatar in June 2017, charging that the country supports terrorism. Qatar denies the charges and says the Saudi boycott aims to curtail its sovereignty. Last week, the Gulf nation announced it was withdrawing from the OPEC oil cartel.
    Islamists vs Islamists
    “Democrats’ battle against the Republican control of the U.S. Congress led to an alliance with political Islamist movements in order to restore their control on government, pushing Muslim candidates and women activists of immigrant minorities onto the electoral scene,” the report states.
    The “common ground” between Omar and Tlaib, the article adds, is to battle Trump’s foreign policy “starting from the sanctions on Iran to the isolation of the Muslim Brotherhood and all movements of political Islam. Those sponsoring and supporting the two Muslim women to reach the U.S. Congress adopted a tactic to infiltrate through their immigrant and black minority communities in general, and women’s groups in particular.
    The article ties Sarsour to Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood through multiple associations with the Arab American Association of New York, which “was created by Palestinian Ahmed Jaber, a member of the Qatar International Foundation responsible for funding the association,” and also her attendance at an annual meeting of the International Network of Muslim Brotherhood in North America and Canada in 2016.
    The article compares Sarsour’s rhetoric to that “used by Muslim Brotherhood teachings and in the views of Sayyid Qutb, a scholar and co-founder of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, as well as from Abul A’la Maududi’s books ‘Islam and Ignorance’ and ‘Fundamentals of Islam.’
    “From all that is mentioned, we can touch the influence of Muslim Brotherhood in shaping the thoughts of American activist Linda Sarsour and consequently her declaring her ‘jihad’ against U.S. President Donald Trump, in addition to her call for the application of ‘Sharia,’ the rule of Islam in the United States of America,” the piece asserts.
    No one knows for sure whether Al Arabiya received direct orders from the Saudi government to attack Sarsour, Tlaib, Omar and other politically active Muslim women on the American left.
    Those familiar with Middle East media say conspiracy-minded attacks against figures in American politics aren’t particularly unusual in Arabic,
    but what is unique about this article is the fact it appeared in English on the network’s website.
    It seems to be a highly creative attempt to somehow repay the Trump White House as it deals with the fallout from the Jamal Khashoggi assassination. As Trump continues to take heat for staying close to the Saudis, they, in turn, are demonstrating their loyalty with their willingness to vilify people who were President Barack Obama’s supporters and are now Trump’s political enemies – even if they wear a hijab.

    Allison Kaplan Sommer
    Haaretz Correspondent

  • As U.S. pushes for Mideast peace, Saudi king reassures allies |
    Reuters

    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-paelestinians-usa-saudi/as-u-s-pushes-for-mideast-peace-saudi-king-reassures-allies-idUSKBN1KJ0F9

    RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia has reassured Arab allies it will not endorse any Middle East peace plan that fails to address Jerusalem’s status or refugees’ right of return, easing their concerns that the kingdom might back a nascent U.S. deal which aligns with Israel on key issues.

    King Salman’s private guarantees to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his public defense of long-standing Arab positions in recent months have helped reverse perceptions that Saudi Arabia’s stance was changing under his powerful young son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, diplomats and analysts said.

    This in turn has called into question whether Saudi Arabia, birthplace of Islam and site of its holiest shrines, can rally Arab support for a new push to end the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, with an eye to closing ranks against mutual enemy Iran.

    “In Saudi Arabia, the king is the one who decides on this issue now, not the crown prince,” said a senior Arab diplomat in Riyadh. “The U.S. mistake was they thought one country could pressure the rest to give in, but it’s not about pressure. No Arab leader can concede on Jerusalem or Palestine.”

    SPONSORED

    Palestinian officials told Reuters in December that Prince Mohammed, known as MbS, had pressed Abbas to support the U.S. plan despite concerns it offered the Palestinians limited self-government inside disconnected patches of the occupied West Bank, with no right of return for refugees displaced by the Arab-Israeli wars of 1948 and 1967.

    Such a plan would diverge from the Arab Peace Initiative drawn up by Saudi Arabia in 2002 in which Arab nations offered Israel normal ties in return for a statehood deal with the Palestinians and full Israeli withdrawal from territory captured in 1967.

    Saudi officials have denied any difference between King Salman, who has vocally supported that initiative, and MbS, who has shaken up long-held policies on many issues and told a U.S. magazine in April that Israelis are entitled to live peacefully on their own land - a rare statement for an Arab leader.

    The Palestinian ambassador to Riyadh, Basem Al-Agha, told Reuters that King Salman had expressed support for Palestinians in a recent meeting with Abbas, saying: “We will not abandon you ... We accept what you accept and we reject what you reject.”

    He said that King Salman naming the 2018 Arab League conference “The Jerusalem Summit” and announcing $200 million in aid for Palestinians were messages that Jerusalem and refugees were back on the table.

    FILE PHOTO: Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud attends Riyadh International Humanitarian Forum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia February 26, 2018. REUTERS/Faisal Al Nasser
    The Saudi authorities did not respond to a request for comment on the current status of diplomatic efforts.

    RED LINES

    Diplomats in the region say Washington’s current thinking, conveyed during a tour last month by top White House officials, does not include Arab East Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state, a right of return for refugees or a freeze of Israeli settlements in lands claimed by the Palestinians.

    Senior adviser Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, has not provided concrete details of the U.S. strategy more than 18 months after he was tasked with forging peace.

    A diplomat in Riyadh briefed on Kushner’s latest visit to the kingdom said King Salman and MbS had seen him together: “MbS did the talking while the king was in the background.”

    Independent analyst Neil Partrick said King Salman appears to have reined in MbS’ “politically reckless approach” because of Jerusalem’s importance to Muslims.

    “So MbS won’t oppose Kushner’s ‘deal’, but neither will he, any longer, do much to encourage its one-sided political simplicities,” said Partrick, lead contributor and editor of “Saudi Arabian Foreign Policy: Conflict and Cooperation”.

     Kushner and fellow negotiator Jason Greenblatt have not presented a comprehensive proposal but rather disjointed elements, which one diplomat said “crossed too many red lines”.

    Instead, they heavily focused on the idea of setting up an economic zone in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula with the adjacent Gaza Strip possibly coming under the control of Cairo, which Arab diplomats described as unacceptable.

    In Qatar, Kushner asked Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani to pressure the Islamist group Hamas to cede control of Gaza in return for development aid, the diplomats said.

    One diplomat briefed on the meeting said Sheikh Tamim just nodded silently. It was unclear if that signaled an agreement or whether Qatar was offered anything in return.

    “The problem is there is no cohesive plan presented to all countries,” said the senior Arab diplomat in Riyadh. “Nobody sees what everyone else is being offered.”

    Kushner, a 37-year-old real estate developer with little experience of international diplomacy or political negotiation, visited Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt and Israel in June. He did not meet Abbas, who has refused to see Trump’s team after the U.S. embassy was moved to Jerusalem.

    In an interview at the end of his trip, Kushner said Washington would announce its Middle East peace plan soon, and press on with or without Abbas. Yet there has been little to suggest any significant progress towards ending the decades-old conflict, which Trump has said would be “the ultimate deal”.

    “There is no new push. Nothing Kushner presented is acceptable to any of the Arab countries,” the Arab diplomat said. “He thinks he is ‘I Dream of Genie’ with a magic wand to make a new solution to the problem.”

    A White House official told reporters last week that Trump’s envoys were working on the most detailed set of proposals to date for the long-awaited peace proposal, which would include what the administration is calling a robust economic plan, though there is thus far no release date.

    Editing by Giles Elgood
    Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

    • In Saudi Arabia, the king is the one who decides on this issue now, not the crown prince,
      […]
      A diplomat in Riyadh briefed on Kushner’s latest visit [in June] to the kingdom said King Salman and MbS had seen him together: “MbS did the talking while the king was in the background.

      Euh, question bête : c’est dans la même aile de l’hôpital la gériatrie de king S et la rééducation (il est probablement sorti des soins intensifs, depuis le temps) de Kronprinz bS ?

      Ce serait quand même plus commode pour Mr Son in law

  • الأوامِر المَلكيّة السعوديّة تُعيد الأمير بن سلمان إلى الأضواء مُجدَّدًا وتَوسيع صلاحِيّاته لإحكام السَّيطرة على جميع مفاصِل الدولة وتقديمه خادم الحرمين الشريفين القادم.. تقليص صلاحيّات أمير مكّة.. وتعيين نائب وزير الداخليّة من خارج “آل سعود” وفَصل الثقافة عن الإعلام وشطب هَويّة البِلاد المُتَّهمة بالتًّطرف نِهائياً لتُمَهِّد الطَّريق | رأي اليوم
    https://www.raialyoum.com/index.php/%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a7%d9%88%d8%a7%d9%85%d8%b1-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%85%d9%84%d9%83

    Juste le titre : "Les décrets royaux remettent MBS sous le feu des projecteurs en élargissant ses pouvoirs sur l’ensemble des rouages de l’Etat et en le présentant commeleprochain ’serviteurs des deux lieux saints’. Diminution des prérogatives du gouverneur de La Mekke. Nomination d’un vice-ministre de l’Intérieur étranger à la famille des Al-Saoud. Séparation de l’Information et de la Culture [au sein des ministères] et à l’horizon suppression définitive des accusations d’extrémisme à l’encontre de l’identité nationale."

    Pour autant, toujours pas d’images (récentes) de MBS dans la presse pour illustrer ces bonnes nouvelles.

    #arabie_saoudite

    • #Gardien_des_deux_lieux_saints, fait partie de la titulature officielle du roi d’Arabie saoudite. Dire qu’il est le prochain me semble juste rappeler que MbS est le prince héritier (#Kronprinz !)

      Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques - Wikipedia
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Custodian_of_the_Two_Holy_Mosques

      The first King of Saudi Arabia to assume the title was Faisal bin Abdul Aziz. His successor Khalid did not use the title, but the latter’s successor Fahd did, replacing the term “His Majesty” with it. The current king, Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, took the same title after the death of King Abdullah, his half brother, on 23 January 2015.

      Bizarrement, pas d’article WP[fr] correspondant, celui vers lequel on est redirigé quand on cherche l’expression est celui-ci, où ce titre ne correspond qu’à une (petite) partie de l’article et dont le contenu est assez différent (et incomplet quant à la liste des titulaires)
      Chérif de La Mecque — Wikipédia
      https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%A9rif_de_La_Mecque#Gardien_des_deux_saintes_mosqu.C3.A9es

      Les souverains de la dynastie saoudienne, n’étant pas descendants de Mahomet, ne peuvent porter le titre de chérif. C’est habillé en simple pèlerin que Abdelaziz Al Saoud entre à la Mecque le 13 octobre 1924 pour en chasser le chérif Hussein et mettre ainsi la main sur le prestige du lieu et de façon plus prosaïque sur les revenus assurés par le pèlerinage annuel.

      Ainsi prend fin la suite ininterrompue de chérifs de la Mecque.

      Gardien des Deux Saintes Mosquées
      Le roi Fahd a adopté officiellement en 1986 comme titre officiel du souverain saoudien : Gardien des Deux Saintes Mosquées ou Serviteur des Lieux saints. Ce titre a été conservé par ses successeurs, les rois Abdallah et Salmane.

      À force de cumuler les pouvoirs, il va finir « reclus au fond de son palais », nouvel Abdülhamid II …

  • Desaparición de príncipe heredero saudí provoca rumores | HISPANTV
    https://www.hispantv.com/noticias/arabia-saudi/377365/principe-heredero-bin-salman-desaparecido

    En Arabia Saudí, la inesperada desaparición del príncipe heredero, Mohamad Bin Salman, ha dado pie a persistentes rumores sobre su integridad física. Una serie de informes secretos filtrados y publicados en varios medios de comunicación, señalan que el príncipe Salman puede estar malherido o muerto.

    Se basan en que el heredero, muy propenso a aparecer ante los medios y activo en las redes sociales, lleva desaparecido desde los tiroteos ocurridos frente el palacio, a mediados del mes de abril.

    Pero aparte de los informes, una serie de situaciones ha potenciado esta hipótesis. Entre ellas se puede señalar el reciente Twitter del príncipe Mohamad Bin Nayef, que fue destituido como heredero por el rey Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, y posteriormente apartado de la vida pública, donde critica duramente las reformas y la política del príncipe Bin Salman.

    Otro punto que se añade a la polémica, fue el inesperado viaje del secretario de Estado de EE.UU., Mike Pompeo, a Arabia Saudí. Se dijo que se reunió con Bin Salman, pero nunca se publicó una imagen del encuentro.

    Bin Salman también ocupa el cargo de ministro de Defensa de Arabia Saudí, pero tampoco asistió a la última reunión de ministros oficiada recientemente por su padre, el rey Bin Abdulaziz. Esta serie de datos, potencia la teoría de que el príncipe, de 32 años, recibió dos balas en los disparos. Unos ataques que, según el Gobierno, fueron causados por la guardia real para derribar un drone de juguete que se acercó demasiado al palacio.

    rumeurs, rumeurs...

    #arabie_saoudite

  • Inside the Saudi King’s 1,500-Person Entourage in Moscow - Bloomberg
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-06/inside-the-saudi-king-s-1-500-person-entourage-in-moscow

    Saudi officials booked two entire luxury hotels and brought their own carpets and hotel staff with King Salman bin Abdulaziz on his historic visit.

    #gabegie #arabie_saoudite

  • Saudi Arabia says king’s contact with U.S. helped ease Al-Aqsa mosque tensions
    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-palestinians-saudi-idUSKBN1AC17J

    The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, has held contacts with many world leaders over the past few days,” the announcement from the Saudi royal court, published by state news agency SPA, said.

    Saudi Arabia is custodian of Islam’s most revered places in Mecca and Medina while Jordan is the custodian of Al-Aqsa mosque, its third holiest site, which is also revered by Jews.

    King Salman contacted the U.S. government and called for an end to restrictions on entry to the mosque, the statement said, saying that developments showed this push had been successful.

    Non seulement, il n’est pas mort, mais il fait reculer Israël à lui tout seul…

    • Le Waqf (seuls muslim leaders cités dans l’article), quant à lui, appelle les croyants à revenir à Al Aqsa

      Muslim leaders urge worshippers to return to Al-Aqsa after Israel backs down
      http://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-palestinians-idUSKBN1AC0UF

      But Muslim elders declared themselves satisfied with Israeli authorities reverting security to how it was before July 14.

      “The technical report showed that all obstacles the occupation (Israel) put outside Al-Aqsa mosque were removed,” said Abdel-Azeem Salhab, the head of the Waqf, the Jordanian-funded trust that oversees Jerusalem’s Muslim holy sites.

      We praise this stand in the past two weeks outside Al-Aqsa and we want this stand to continue outside Al-Aqsa and now inside Al-Aqsa,” he said, urging worshippers to return to pray.

      Palestinian political factions issued statements supporting the Waqf announcement, which may help quell the unrest. Before the announcement, factions had been calling for a “day of rage” on Friday, which would probably have fueled the violence.

  • Egypt-Saudi Arabia Handshake between king and president points to waning tensions | MadaMasr

    http://www.madamasr.com/en/2017/04/13/feature/politics/handshake-between-king-and-president-points-to-waning-tensions

    Some signals suggest a possible de-escalation between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, whose usually tight relations have recently witnessed turbulence.

    The Jordan Arab Summit, held on March 29, saw the leaders of both countries, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and King Salman bin Abdulaziz, meet and shake hands, while their respective ministers of foreign affairs agreed to set up a “committee for political follow-up.”

    Meanwhile, earlier in February, King Salman visited the Egyptian wing at the Jenaderiyah cultural festival, in what was interpreted as a gesture of restoring relations.

    One of the latest points of contention between the two countries concerns the Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir, which Egypt ceded sovereignty over in April 2016, following an agreement between the two governments. However, the Egyptian Supreme Administrative Court ruled on January 16 against the agreement, declaring the islands Egyptian. The court argued that the Egyptian government failed to submit documents in support of Saudi sovereignty.

    But the legal contest didn’t stop here. On April 2, a court of urgent matters annulled the supreme court’s ruling. Parliament took a decisive step forward on April 10, one day after Coptic Christian churches in Alexandria and Tanta were bombed in attacks claimed by the Province of Sinai. In its first session after the bombings, Parliament referred the case to its legislative and constitutional affairs committee, where it will undergo a preliminary vote before a final vote takes place in the general assembly. It is a development aligned with what officials have said in closed quarters for some time. 

    “Saudi Arabia has reassurances from Cairo that it will receive the two islands in any case. But it also blames Cairo for managing this issue poorly,” says an Egyptian official working at the General Secretariat of the Arab League, who spoke to Mada Masr on condition of anonymity.

  • Kuwait : Former MP sentenced to 46 years over insulting tweets – Middle East Monitor
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20170327-kuwait-former-mp-sentenced-to-46-years-over-insulting-tw

    Kuwait’s criminal court yesterday sentenced former lawmaker Abdul Hamid Dashti to three years in jail for tweets deemed to insult Saudi King Salman Bin Abdulaziz, Kuwait’s news agency Al-Qabas reported yesterday.

    La fraternité arabe n’a pas de prix : 46 ans de prison contre cet ancien député koweïtien pour des Tweets considérés injurieux à l’encontre... du roi saoudien !

  • Panama Leak : Saudi King Sponsored Netanyahu’s Campaign
    http://www.mintpressnews.com/panama-leak-saudi-king-sponsored-netanyahus-campaign/216235

    Isaac Herzog, member of the Knesset and Chairman of the Israeli Labor party, revealed that Saudi king Salman bin Abdulaziz financed the election campaign of Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. “In March 2015, King Salman has deposited eighty million dollars to support Netanyahu’s campaign via a Syrian-Spanish person named Mohamed Eyad Kayali. The money was deposited to a company’s account in British Virgin Islands owned by Teddy Sagi, an Israeli billionaire and businessman, who has allocated the money to fund the campaign Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu”, Herzog cited a leaked Panama Paper. Related Panama Papers can be found in the following links:

    http://panamapapers.sueddeutsche.de/en https://panamapapers.icij.org/the_power_players
    http://bit.ly/1UJkMS4 http://www.freezepage.com/1462699031QTMVBVWSWT
    http://www.talniri.co.il/marketnews/article.asp?mp=4&id=76320

    • Je pense que c’est un hoax. Il n’y a qu’une seule source (l’article de al Masdar), dupliquée à plusieurs endroits, mais sans jamais ajouter quoi que ce soit (autres sources, autres citations…), sinon des généralités sur les Panama Papers. Les liens donnés n’ont rien à voir, en dehors du « freezepage » censé montrer une page archivée je ne sais comment. Il n’y a aucun lien vers un Panama Paper publié quelque part avec une telle info. Et il semble que Herzog a nié avoir fait cette déclaration.

      Je pense que tous les indicateurs sont au rouge pour indiquer qu’il s’agit d’un faux. (Ne serait-ce que parce que c’est vraiment trop beau pour être vrai…) Et même si ce n’est pas un faux, je ne vois pas comment un média peut publier une info aussi mal sourcée.

  • Terroristas sirios enviarán 2.000 hombres a ayudar a Arabia Saudí en Yemen
    http://www.almanar.com.lb/spanish/adetails.php?eid=94147

    El autoproclamado Ejército del Levante (Yaish al Sham), parte de los grupos terroristas que combaten en Siria, afirmó el sábado estar preparando una tropa de 2.000 hombres para apoyar a Arabia Saudí en su agresión a Yemen.

    En un comunicado difundido a través de una página en la red social de Facebook, el grupo extremista de corte wahabí señaló que ya se entrenan 2.000 rebeldes para ponerlos a disposición del rey saudí Salmán bin Abdulaziz, en su agresión contra los yemeníes.

    #syrie #arabie_saoudite #mercenaires

  • Saudi Arabia burns through foreign reserves - FT.com
    http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/01948d2c-ef49-11e4-a6d2-00144feab7de.html?ftcamp=crm/email/2015430/nbe/WorldNews/product#axzz3Z3zwPLBu

    The central bank’s foreign reserves have dropped by $36bn, or 5 per cent, over the past two months, as newly crowned King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud dips into Riyadh’s rainy-day fund and increases domestic borrowing to fund public sector salaries and large development projects.

    The latest data show Saudi’s foreign reserves dropped by $16bn to $708bn in March, driven by public sector bonuses paid by King Salman after he assumed power in January. This follows a fall of $20bn in February. Saudi Arabia has spent $47bn of foreign reserves since October.

  • Saudi to restructure its oil giant Aramco - Al Arabiya News

    http://english.alarabiya.net/en/2015/05/01

    Saudi Arabia approved on Friday the restructuring of the kingdom’s oil giant Aramco, a move that will see it separated from the oil ministry, sources told Al Arabiya News Channel.

    The country’s Supreme Economic Council approved the restructure plan that had been proposed by Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.

    The restructuring comes soon after Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz announced a major government reshuffle.

    Prince Mohammad bin Salman, also minister of defense, was appointed as the deputy crown prince earlier this week. King Salman also appointed Saudi Aramco’s chief executive Khaled Al-Falih as chairman of the state oil firm and health minister.

    In a statement on Wednesday, Aramco described Falih as the outgoing CEO and president, and also as chairman of its board of directors.

    The state-owned giant is a world leader in crude exports. Aramco is involved in hydrocarbons exploration, production, refining, distribution, shipping and marketing.❞

  • Saudi Arabia’s American-Backed War in Yemen Went Really Badly Today
    https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/04/09/saudi_arabias_american_backed_war_in_yemen_went_really_badly_today

    Neither of those goals currently appears achievable. Instead of being halted, the Houthi rebels, whom Saudi Arabia claims are backed by Iran, have gained territory. On Thursday, they took the city of Ataq, a Sunni stronghold. Local residents told Reuters that the city’s security forces and tribal chiefs helped the Houthis enter the city.

    Meanwhile, fighting continues in the city of Aden, a city of about 800,000 on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe. The city, a port on the southern coast, is currently the scene of street-to-street fighting, and humanitarian agencies report having difficulties delivering aid. International shipping companies are steering clear of Yemeni ports — terrible news for a place that imports about 90 percent of its food and which faces a looming water crisis. “It’s nearly catastrophic,” Marie Claire Feghali, the International Committee of the Red Cross spokeswoman in Yemen, told Reuters.

    Amid this fighting, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the terrorist group’s Yemen affiliate, is making territorial gains. On Thursday, the group seized government offices in al-Siddah district, which had previously been controlled by the Houthis. Last week, AQAP, which U.S. spies consider to be al Qaeda’s most dangerous offshoot, seized the port city of Mukalla.

    • http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/04/10/america-has-abdicated-its-guiding-role-in-the-middle-east-to-a-sectar

      The administration defends the Saudis’ resort to force to stem the tide of the takeover of Yemen: The Houthis had placed Scud missiles on the border, while Iran had begun regular flights to Saada, the Houthi stronghold. But the State Department official I spoke to added that the hostilities would have to end soon in order to limit death and destruction, and to bring the Houthis to a political settlement.

      There is, unfortunately, no sign that Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz agrees with that proposition. His apparent plan is to bomb the Houthis into submission. What’s more, the Saudis are new to the game of military intervention, and they seem bent on reproducing America’s worst mistakes. The air war has caused over 500 civilian deaths and an incipient humanitarian disaster; created new opportunities for al Qaeda, which has seized Mukalla, Yemen’s fifth-largest city; and done nothing to hinder the Houthis’ bid to conquer the strategic southern city of Aden. It’s not a very encouraging prototype.

      The fight is only two weeks old and perhaps the tide will turn. The more lasting problem is King Salman’s idea of a political solution. Once he’s evicted the Houthis, he plans to restore to power President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who was forced to flee Yemen to Saudi Arabia. But it was the Saudis who put Hadi there in the first place; so weak is his writ that his army effectively abandoned him in favor of his widely hated predecessor, Ali Abdullah Saleh. Hadi might survive, but only as a Saudi puppet. What’s more, the Houthis are not Iran’s puppets, as the Saudis insist, but a powerful indigenous force whose demands must be accommodated in a power-sharing agreement.

      A comparable situation can be seen in Libya, where Egypt has given political and military support to the Tobruk government in its effort to destroy the rival government based in Tripoli. The former is avowedly “moderate,” the other “Islamist,” but these oversimplified terms disguise the reality of different regions, tribes, and ethnic groups vying for control. Again, the only lasting solution would be a political one. Yet right now the greatest obstacle to a cease-fire is the refusal of the Tobruk government to negotiate with the Islamists. The Tobruk prime minister, Abdullah al-Thinni, has demanded that the Arabs do in Libya what they’re now doing in Yemen. That would be a catastrophe.

  • Arabie Saoudite : une transition sous haute tension

    Par Stéphane Lacroix

    http://www.sciencespo.fr/newsletter/archive-b923309cd7838d94d0046adb772b978e.html

    Le 23 janvier 2015, Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saoud, 79 ans, est monté sur le trône d’Arabie Saoudite, succédant à son demi-frère Abdallah. Muqrin, 69 ans, vice-prince héritier nommé par Abdallah dont il était proche, est désormais le prince héritier. En apparence, la succession s’est faite sans accrocs. La réalité est cependant plus complexe. La famille royale saoudienne est déchirée depuis des décennies par des rivalités profondes entre factions princières dont l’enjeu est, entre autres, le contrôle de la manne pétrolière. Ces rivalités se sont exacerbées depuis plusieurs années, à mesure qu’approchait l’échéance redoutée de la transmission du pouvoir à la génération suivante. Depuis 1953, en effet, tous les rois saoudiens appartiennent à une même fratrie, issue du père fondateur de l’Arabie Saoudite moderne, le roi Abdulaziz. Or celle-ci ne compte plus aujourd’hui que quelques membres, ce qui nourrit les ambitions des petits-fils d’Abdulaziz. Surtout, ces derniers se comptant par centaines, le système actuel de partage horizontal du pouvoir ne pourra se perpétuer en l’état. Il n’est pas impossible que la faction dominante décide, le moment venu, d’exclure les factions concurrentes. D’où la nature existentielle de l’enjeu.

    Le roi Salman appartient à la faction des Sudayris, descendants du roi Abdulaziz par l’une de ses épouses préférées, Hussa al-Sudayri. Sous le règne du roi Fahd (1982-2005), lui-même membre de cette faction, les Sudayris s’étaient vus confortés au sommet de l’Etat saoudien. Son successeur le roi Abdallah (2005-2015), prince périphérique dénué de frères de sang, avait, au cours de son règne, constitué une alliance ad hoc au sein de la famille royale pour déloger ses rivaux. Il avait en outre nommé plusieurs de ses fils à des positions de pouvoir. Dès son entrée en fonction, Salman s’est appliqué à défaire les choix d’Abdallah : à l’exception de Mit‘ab, inamovible chef de la garde nationale, tous les fils d’Abdallah ont été remerciés, ainsi que ses fidèles qui oeuvraient au sein des ministères et des gouvernorats. En retour, Salman a choisi de concentrer le pouvoir entre les mains de deux princes Sudayris de la génération suivante : son propre fils Muhammad bin Salman, âgé de seulement 34 ans, qui est désormais chef du cabinet royal, ministre de la Défense et président du Conseil économique et social ; et l’incontournable Muhammad bin Nayef, 55 ans, ministre de l’Intérieur, président du Conseil pour les affaires politiques et sécuritaires, qui s’est illustré à la tête de l’anti-terrorisme saoudien et bénéficie du soutien de Washington. Enfin, last but not least, ce dernier s’est vu décerner le titre de vice-prince héritier, ce qui fait de lui un monarque en puissance.

    La manœuvre est subtile, mais on peut déjà en anticiper les conséquences : après la mort de Salman, le prince héritier Muqrin serait un roi faible car dépourvu d’alliés. Viendrait alors Muhammad bin Nayef, beaucoup plus influent, mais qui souffre d’un handicap sérieux : il n’a pas de fils. Un boulevard s’ouvrirait alors pour Muhammad bin Salman qui, à son âge, a encore la vie devant lui. On voit ainsi se dessiner les contours d’un pouvoir Sudayri, au sein duquel les descendants de Salman occuperaient une place privilégiée.

    Un tel scénario ne se réalisera néanmoins pas sans résistances, et ces dernières pourraient avoir un effet déstabilisateur dans une Arabie Saoudite vouée à voir sa situation se précariser dans les années à venir. Sur le plan socioéconomique, la baisse des prix du pétrole alliée à une démographie galopante pourraient à terme menacer le pacte social, même si le royaume dispose encore d’importantes réserves financières. Sur le plan sécuritaire, le pays n’a jamais été aussi menacé par son environnement proche : au Nord, l’Etat islamique l’a nommément désigné comme la cible première de son expansionnisme ; au Sud, le Yémen est aujourd’hui partagé entre milices houthistes soutenues directement ou indirectement par l’Iran, et combattants d’Al-Qaïda dans la péninsule arabique. Au-delà les apparences, c’est donc une transition sous haute tension qui se déroule aujourd’hui à Riyad.

    #arabie_saoudite

  • Profile : King Salman bin Abdulaziz - Al Arabiya News
    http://english.alarabiya.net/en/perspective/profiles/2015/01/27/Profile-King-Salman-bin-Abdulaziz.html

    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz was proclaimed the seventh king of Saudi Arabia on 23/01/2015, upon the death of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz. King Salman is the Prime Minister of the Council of Ministers.

    King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz was born in Riyadh on 5/10/1354, corresponding to 31/12/1935.


    He received his early education at Princes’ School in Riyadh, which was established by King Abdulaziz in 1356 to provide education for his children. There he studied religion and modern science, and celebrated the completion of memorizing the whole Quran on Sunday, 12/8/1364 H.

    #arabie_saoudite #barbarie

  • Indian Punchline - Reflections on foreign affairs
    http://blogs.rediff.com/mkbhadrakumar

    he invitation extended to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the newly elected Egyptian president Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi in Cairo on Sunday didn’t exactly come out of the blue. Tehran got five days to mull over the invitation and it decided to depute Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian, FO’s topmost diplomat on Arab affairs, to represent President Hassan Rouhani who was on a visit to Turkey. It’s been a measured response in diplomatic terms — appropriate but not effusive,
    (...)
    However, the highlight of Amir Abdollahian’s stay in Cairo was his meeting with the Saudi Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud. He later said the meeting was “constructive”. [ here : http://english.farsnews.com/print.aspx?nn=13930320001433].
    The meeting is a diplomatic scoop for Tehran.
    Riyadh has been flooding Tehran with invitations to senior Iranian officials to visit Saudi Arabia (including Foreign Minister Mohammad Zarif and Expediency Council chairman Hashemi Rafsanjani), but no visit has been worked out so far. Meanwhile, Tehran has been focusing on building up its ties with Saudi Arabia’s GCC partners as well as Turkey and Egypt.
    What does this rapid flow of events add up to? Clearly, in a nutshell, Middle Eastern politics is entering an altogether new era with Iran’s integration with the West. In sum, intra-regional politics has surged to the centre stage.
    There was a time when the US ensured that Egypt and Iran didn’t draw close together. From all appearance, the US’ influence has waned on the Nile banks. On the other hand, US diplomacy may be acquiring greater flexibility.
    The US’ bilateral talks with Iran this week in Geneva have reverberated all over the Middle East, including in Cairo. Meanwhile, the ‘Obama Doctrine’ is also at work. Nothing brings this out more vividly than that the Obama administration is quietly fostering a Saudi-Iranian normalization.
    With a successful visit by Rouhani to Ankara and the warming up of Iran-Egypt ties, it is about time Tehran gets around to mending relations with Riyadh. Conceivably, Amir Abdollahian’s meeting in Cairo with the Saudi Crown Prince aimed at preparing the ground for a pathbreaking visit by a senior Iranian official to Riyadh. To my mind, the Iranian-Saudi ‘thaw’ is on the cards, finally. The Middle Eastern politics is tiptoeing toward a paradigm shift.

    By M K Bhadrakumar – June 12, 2014

  • Undermining the #Sudairi_clan: The king manages the power struggle
    http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/undermining-sudairi-clan-king-manages-power-struggle

    Saudi Crown #Prince_Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud speaks during the opening session of the Gulf Cooperation Council on May 14, 2014 in Jeddah, #Saudi_Arabia. (Photo: AFP-Mandel Ngan) Saudi Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud speaks during the opening session of the Gulf Cooperation Council on May 14, 2014 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. (Photo: AFP-Mandel Ngan)

    Since Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz was crowned king on August 2, 2005 as successor to his half brother Fahd bin Abdul Aziz - who died on July 31, 2005 - he designed a policy for himself aimed at changing the balance of power. He put new rules for the transfer of power stemming from a background that is clearly inconsistent with the direction of his primary competition, the (...)

    #Mideast_&_North_Africa #Allegiance_Commission #Articles #King_Abdul_Aziz #Prince_Nayef

  • #Saudi_Arabia, #Bahrain, #UAE pull ambassadors from #Qatar
    http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/saudi-arabia-bahrain-uae-pull-ambassadors-qatar

    Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (2R) arrives at the airport in New Delhi on February 26, 2014. (Photo: AFP - Raveendran) Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (2R) arrives at the airport in New Delhi on February 26, 2014. (Photo: AFP - Raveendran)

    Updated 11:40 am: Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates recalled their ambassadors from Doha on Wednesday in protest at Qatar’s interference in their internal affairs, they announced in a joint statement. The statement said the move came “to protect their security and stability,” accusing Qatar of (...)

    #Top_News