Saudi King Reshuffles Top Military Posts to Reinforce Crown Prince’s Position

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman reshuffled some of the kingdom’s top military officers and several deputy ministers on Monday in a broad shakeup seen as reinforcing the position of his son, the Crown Prince.

The chief of staff, General Abdul Rahman bin Saleh al-Bunyan, has been retired and replaced by First Lieutenant General, Fayyad bin Hamed al-Ruwayli while new chiefs were appointed to the country’s air defense and land forces, according to royal decrees published by state media.

Several new deputies in economic and security-related ministries as well as a handful of new city mayors were appointed, including Tamadur bint Youssef al-Ramah as deputy labor minister, a rare senior post for a woman in the deeply conservative kingdom.