Royal Pains: Two Princes Vie for Power in Saudi Arabia, Make a Mess

Jan 23 2016, 5:24 am ET by Robert Windrem A rivalry between two princes may explain Saudi Arabia's sudden eagerness to pick fights at home and abroad, as the two men spark one international disaster after another while vying for the kingdom's throne. "To understand the Saudi royal family, you don't go to the Kennedy School of Government," says Bruce Riedel, the CIA's former national intelligence officer for the Middle East. "You read Shakespeare!" The struggle between Crown Prince Muhammad bin Nayef and Prince Mohammad bin Salman has all the elements of Elizabethan drama, including strange alliances, ambitious courtiers - and an ailing, ancient king who may be mentally incompetent. Diplomatic sources and U.S. officials believe 80-year-old King Salman, with whom Secretary of State John Kerry is scheduled to meet in Riyadh this weekend, shows signs of dementia. One official said that during a recent meeting, the king was only able to follow the conversation by pausing while an aide in another room typed a response that the king then read from an iPad. Some in the U.S. government believe that when King Salman declined to come to Camp David last spring to meet with President Obama, he was not just snubbing the president but trying to avoid embarrassment in front of world media. The princes who would take his place may be first cousins, but they're polar opposites. "MBN," as Crown Prince Muhammad bin Nayef is known, is 55 and a trusted U.S. ally. The interior minister and crown prince rose to power on his slow, steady success as head of the Saudi counterterrorism program, where he became a favorite of the CIA. He was sometimes also known as the Prince of Darkness because of his rank, his job in intelligence, and his night-owl habits. Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz salutes the Kingdom's national anthem as he arrives to inaugurate the works of the Shura Council in Riyadh. Photo was made available on Dec. 23, 2015. Saudi Press Agency / Handout "MBS," Mohammad bin Salman, is King Salman's son. Just 29, he's the defense minister and a savvy publicity hound who shot to prominence in 2015 as the architect of Saudi Arabia's war against Yemen's Houthi rebels . "Bin Salman is a pop idol," notes Riedel, who is now at the Brookings Institution. "His picture is all over Saudi social media, on television, on billboards. There are pop music songs about him!" Bin Salman's trips to Russia, France and the U.S. were heavily covered in Saudi papers and burnished his image with the huge chunk of the kingdom's population that is under 30. "They can see themselves in him," said Riedel. "The system didn't normally operate that way." U.S. officials say the younger generations of the Saudi public seem energized by bold action, and the princes are competing for public favor by seeing who can take the most aggressive stance towards the nation's internal and external enemies. But their bold actions have brought risk and ruin. The byproducts of their power struggle now include mounting tension with Iran, an increasingly costly military quagmire in Yemen, and protests by Shiites around the world. Last month's beheading of Nimr al-Nimr, a Shi'ite cleric, which U.S. officials strongly believe was pushed by Prince bin Nayef, has led to a break in relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran and a wave of condemnation in the West. A war against the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen, pushed by bin Salman, had initial success but is now a stalemate that costs the kingdom $200 million per day. Last year's decision to keep pumping oil in the face of declining prices, which both princes backed, has shrunk Saudi Arabia's economic power and led to lower revenues and vast cuts in social services. The rivalry is the result of an odd arrangement the royal family made after King Abdullah died in January 2015. The family's Allegiance Council anointed Salman king and bin Nayef crown prince. There were multiple rationales for appointing bin Nayef, aside from his counterterrorism work. He is the son of the late Prince Nayef, who would have been in line for the throne if he hadn't died before Abdullah. The new King Salman, however, then appointed his son, Mohammad bin Salman, deputy crown prince, placing him directly behind bin Nayef in the order of succession. Which of the two princes will win in the end? Salman has a very high opinion of his son. "The king thinks the sun shines out of the boy's backside," said Simon Henderson, director of the Washington Institute's Gulf and Energy Policy Program. When Secretary Kerry meets with King Salman this weekend, he will also be meeting with young bin Salman. Could Saudi Arabia and Iran's Diplomatic Spat Lead to Something Far Worse? 1:05 The public applauded the young prince's aggressive stance in Yemen. "To them, Saudi had never been so bold," said a Saudi journalist who wished to remain anonymous.. "The Yemen operation had finally upped the ante for Saudis. Saudi Arabia didn't need any more nurse maids. He represented them, he was in touch with them. The U.S. is less enthusiastic. Though he has compared himself to Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher, bin Salman is not as enamored with the West as his older rival. Foreign intelligence services also question his decision-making. In December, the BND, Germany's intelligence agency, publicly released an extraordinary and scathing analysis of bin Salman, saying he is behind the kingdom's "impulsive policy of intervention." The minister of defense, the paper stated, "harbors a latent risk that in seeking to establish himself in the line of succession in his father's lifetime, he may overreach." Bin Nayef is favored --it's hardly an exaggeration to say beloved -- by the United States. More than one U.S. official has privately said bin Nayef is the man the U.S. wants to be king. When King Salman skipped last May's Camp David summit on Syria, seen as an affront to President Obama, he sent the two princes. Obama praised both but particularly noted bin Nayef's counterterrorism role. "Mohammed bin Nayef has been a partner with us on counterterrorism work and security work for a very long time. So we have great admiration for him," said the President. "This is the first time that we had had a chance to work closely with the Deputy Crown Prince, and I think he struck us as extremely knowledgeable, very smart, I think wise beyond his years." A senior U.S. intelligence official went even further, telling NBC News, "Crown Prince Muhammad bin Nayef is a strong and committed partner to the U.S., and he possesses an in-depth understanding on a range of security related issues. His pragmatic, proactive leadership in addressing complex security issues cannot be overstated."  Nimr al-Nimr Execution Ignites New Chapter in Shiite-Sunni Struggle 2:37 Here's one example cited by Riedel: When al-Qaida planted bombs on UPS and FedEx planes headed from Yemen to Chicago on the eve of the 2010 U.S. congressional elections, MBN called the White House and gave President Obama's terrorism advisor -- now CIA Director --John Brennan the tracking numbers for the deadly containers. The planes were then detained at stopovers and the bombs removed. It's not surprising. Bin Nayef has had an open line to the last four CIA directors, say U.S. officials. During the early post-9/11 years, bin Nayef would visit the U.S. four times a year to meet with his White House counterpart, Fran Fragos Thompson, sessions facilitated by bin Nayef's fluent English, learned in Oregon, where he attended Lewis and Clark College. Bin Nayef also studied at the FBI in the late 1980s, and at Scotland Yard's antiterrorism institute between 1992 and 1994. Another western diplomat told NBC News, "He is clearly very smart and ambitious but also focuses on what needs to be done and I would definitely describe him as a doer. One of the smartest things about him is that he has built up a team over the years that has a broad range of expertise and they are extremely loyal to him and if you look at the results successful." And he is no shrinking violet when dealing with the media. He will often leak tales of derring-do to the Saudi and other Middle Eastern media. No billboards, just a steady stream of positive stories with him as the hero. The older generation of Saudi princes, who are closer in age to bin Nayef, also question why King Salman has invested so much power in his 29-year-old son, according to the Saudi journalist. But whether the old guard's regard for bin Nayef and American affection for him will help him become king remains to be seen. Image: SAUDI-CONFLICT-COALITION Saudi Defence Minister and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman holds a press conference on Dec. 14, 2015, at King Salman airbase in Riyadh. According to media reports, Saudi Arabia announced the formation of a military coalition of 34 countries including Gulf states, Egypt and Turkey to fight "terrorism" in the Islamic world. but the alliance excludes regional rival Iran and several countries facing ongoing violence. Saudi Press Agency / via AFP - Getty Images "The fact the U.S. officials like him can be as much as hindrance as a help and he's caught up in what is best described as a battle royale," said Henderson, who added that bin Nayef "feels threatened by Mohammed bin Salman and would like to sideline him." Riedel thinks the U.S. may be making a mistake in pushing bin Nayef as hard as they have. He's no reformer, says Riedel, noting that for dissidents in the Middle East, bin Nayef is the "public face of repression in the kingdom," equating dissent with terror. Some of the "team" he has built up are informants. Riedel and others in the U.S. government, believe bin Nayef, who still controls the counterterrorism apparatus, had to be part of the decision-making process that led to al-Nimr's execution. Another U.S. official said, "It's in his portfolio." How does it end? Not well is the experts' consensus. Bin Salman controls access to the royal court along with his mother. Thus, Riedel says, bin Nayef, as crown prince, cannot meet with the king without his deputy's permission. Moreover, the king may not even be competent enough to control his succession, according to multiple sources. "Will the son connive with the favorite wife to deny Bin Nayef?" asks Reidel. "It happened in Jordan." But bin Nayef is a survivor, literally. He's survived assassination attempts --at least three and possibly four -- the most serious in August 2009 when the brother of al Qaeda bombmaker Ibrahim al-Asiri blew himself up while shaking hands with him. Bin Nayef suffered minor burns. "So he has luck," said Henderson, "which is seen as a valuable asset in Saudi culture." -- Andrea Mitchell contributed reporting to this story. ======================================== Sat Jan 23, 2016 7:16pm GMT Related: Davos Exclusive: Saudi-Iranian proxy war over Syria spreads to Davos DAVOS, Switzerland | By Paul Taylor Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif (C) attends the session 'Responding to Fragility' of the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland January 21, 2016. REUTERS/Ruben Sprich Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif (C) attends the session 'Responding to Fragility' of the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland January 21, 2016. Reuters/Ruben Sprich Senior Saudi and Iranian figures clashed behind closed doors at a private meeting convened by the World Economic Forum in Davos this week to try to promote peace in Syria, participants said. The barbed exchange between Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif at an invitation-only meeting on Wednesday underlined the hostility between the two Gulf rivals, who are waging proxy wars in Syria, Yemen and Iraq. Riyadh broke off diplomatic relations and cut off trade and transport ties with Tehran two weeks ago after protesters stormed the Saudi embassy in Iran. The protests erupted following the Saudi execution of a leading Shi'ite cleric that outraged predominantly Shi'ite Iranians. The standoff highlights some of the reasons U.S.-Russian-backed peace talks on Syria may not open as planned in Geneva next week. There is no agreement on who should represent opponents of the Syrian government, and Riyadh-backed rebels are demanding that Russia first stop air strikes in Syria. An official photographer snapped Faisal and Zarif shaking hands outside the room. The picture was not distributed and any warmth evaporated when they sat around the table with U.N. and other senior officials. "It was a dialogue of the deaf," said one participant, who asked not to be identified because of the confidentiality of the session. Zarif denied any secret meeting with Prince Turki, a former head of Saudi intelligence and ambassador to the United States. Asked at a news conference the same day whether he would meet any Saudi officials in Davos, he said: "There won't be any secret meeting." Prince Turki confirmed to Reuters that he had attended the session with Zarif and others but declined comment on what was said, citing the off-the-record ground rules of the meeting. U.N. special envoy on Syria Staffan de Mistura, former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, former Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa of Egypt, the foreign ministers of Italy and Austria and officials from Turkey and several other Western nations were also around the table. SECTARIAN STRIFE De Mistura opened the meeting by saying the time was ripe for the Geneva peace talks because outside powers all wanted a political solution to the five-year-old civil war in Syria, the participants said. However, several speakers questioned Russia's motives for intervening in the conflict since September with air strikes in support of President Bashar al-Assad. They cast doubt on whether Moscow and Tehran wanted any deal that would involve Assad's eventual departure. Zarif said Iran supported a political solution and had set out a four-point peace plan when it was finally invited to join international diplomacy on Syria last year. It had been excluded for years at U.S. and Saudi insistence. Without naming any country, he took a veiled swipe at Riyadh by condemning those, he said, who fanned and exploited sectarian differences between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims across the region. At his news conference, Zarif accused Saudi Arabia of having spent millions of dollars to lobby the U.S. Congress against an international deal on Iran's nuclear program. An agreement with Iran led to the lifting of U.N. sanctions on the country this week. He said Riyadh had panicked after the embassy attack and the Saudis needed to "come to their senses". Prince Turki hit back in the closed session, blasting Iran's role in the Syria conflict, the participants said. Quoting an Arabic saying, he told Zarif: "I really like what you say but when I look at what you do, I wonder." Prince Turki, the 70-year-old youngest son of the late King Faisal, accused Iran of having 10,000 fighters on the ground in Syria supporting Assad, participants said. He described the Syrian leader as a "terrorist killing his own people" who was directly kept in power by Tehran, the participants said. One participant said the prince's remarks were sharper than expected and shocked some of those attending the meeting. While declining to comment on the exchange, Prince Turki told Reuters the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards had boasted publicly that Iran had 120,000 fighters in Arab countries. Iran has acknowledged that officers of its Revolutionary Guards have been killed in Syria, but it denies having a large military presence in the country or participating directly in combat operations. Officials close to Damascus and familiar with military developments have said that hundreds of Iranian fighters have joined the ground war in Syria since Russia began its air strikes last September, many of them deployed near Aleppo. A Middle East diplomat said the Iranian presence was closer to 2,000 Revolutionary Guards, but they were augmented by several thousand Shi'ite volunteers from countries such as Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq who had received military training in Iran. Zarif did not respond to Prince Turki's attack in the meeting and the rest of the session was inconclusive. U.N. envoy de Mistura lamented that "this is the third year we are talking about Syria and not getting anywhere", one participant said. He said the Europeans at the table only talked about the humanitarian situation and the refugee crisis and how to stop refugees reaching Europe. (Writing by Paul Taylor, editing by Larry King)

Saudi King Salman skips Obama summit

Thomson Reuters EDITION:U.S. SIGN INREGISTER World | Wed Apr 29, 2015 4:27pm EDT Related: WORLD Saudi king resets succession to cope with turbulent times RIYADH | BY ANGUS MCDOWALL Saudi King Salman appointed a nephew as new heir and made his young son second in line to rule on Wednesday, a major shift in power towards two princes who have overseen a more assertive stance at a time of almost unprecedented regional turmoil. By making Interior Minister Mohammed bin Nayef, 55, crown prince and Defence Minister Mohammed bin Salman, 30, deputy crown prince, King Salman has effectively decided the line of succession for decades to come in the world's top oil exporter. The announcement means the kingship will pass to a new generation for the first time since 1953, when the throne passed from the founder of the dynasty, King Abdulaziz Ibn Saud, to the first of six of his sons who have held it since. The appointments signal a tougher foreign policy, particularly towards regional foe Iran, but little change to a firm hand against dissent at home, where Riyadh this week said it had detained 93 suspected Islamic State militants. Almost all powers under the king are now concentrated in the hands of the pair, who each chair committees determining all security and economic development issues in Saudi Arabia, and have led Riyadh's month-old campaign of air strikes in Yemen. In another big shift, Salman replaced veteran Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, who had served in the role since October 1975, with the kingdom's Washington ambassador Adel al-Jubeir, the first non-royal to hold the post. The new crown prince, Mohammed bin Nayef, enjoys closer personal ties with U.S. officials than almost any other senior royal, diplomats have said. He is also a member of the same branch of the royal family as Salman - the Sudairis - which include the present king and descendants of his six full brothers, rather than those of his dozens of half brothers, including his predecessor, King Abdullah, who died in January. Another half brother, Prince Muqrin, had been in line as successor but is now replaced. The king said the decisions were approved by a majority of the family's Allegiance Council, a body set up to govern succession. In a show of support, Saudi state television showed members of the royal family, including Muqrin, flocking to the royal court to pledge allegiance to the new crown prince and his deputy. A U.S. official said Washington was pleased to see younger people moving up in Saudi Arabia and Jubeir being promoted to foreign minister, but was still assessing the changes, notably the increased influence of the Sudairis. “Many people know Adel al-Jubeir. He is a very sophisticated player,” said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity. “It is the Sudairis who have strengthened their hand here. We just don’t know what it means and how people (from other parts of the Saudi royal family) will react.” RELATED COVERAGE › New Saudi Crown Prince marks generational shift The changes come as Saudi Arabia navigates the messy aftermath of the Arab spring and worries that its strategic partner Washington is disengaging from the region. It has broken with decades of backroom politics by bombing Yemen. The Yemen move, closely associated with both heirs, is seen by analysts as indicative of a more confrontational foreign policy under Salman and his ruling team, who have worked to build a coalition of Sunni allies against Iran. Riyadh appears increasingly determined to counter Tehran's allies, including in Syria, where Saudi-backed rebels against President Bashar al-Assad have recently made gains. "I think we're going to see a more confrontational policy, faster decision-making and more long-term thinking. A leadership that won't hesitate from any confrontation," said Mustafa Alani, an Iraqi security analyst with close ties to the kingdom's Interior Ministry. OIL APPOINTMENTS It follows what many Saudis see as a decade of growing Iranian influence across the Middle East coupled with concerns that the United States has stopped listening. The appointment of the new crown prince, with his strong ties to the American establishment, may help alleviate such concerns, along with the appointment of Jubeir. The rise of the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria has also caused security threats at home including recent attacks on police and minority Shi'ites. Saudi Arabia faces long-term domestic challenges, including entrenched youth unemployment, unsustainable state spending and tension between religious conservatives and more Western-oriented liberals. The reshuffle also touches the oil sector. Saudi Arabia's decision not to cut production last year has helped cause a global fall in oil prices. The head of state oil firm Aramco, Khalid al-Falih, was named as the new health minister in Wednesday's royal decree. A new Aramco CEO has not been named but analysts said oil policy was not likely to change. RELATED COVERAGE › Saudi king orders one-month salary bonus for security personnel In a statement on Wednesday Aramco described Falih as the outgoing CEO and president, and also as chairman of its board of directors, appearing to confirm an earlier report on al-Arabiya television. "I don't think there's been any disagreement about the idea of keeping up production, maintaining market share," Clement M. Henry, professor at Middle East Institute, National University of Singapore, said. NEW GUARD While new Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef is a familiar figure both inside the kingdom and in the West for his role in quashing an al Qaeda uprising and leading Saudi policy in Syria, his successor as second in line to the throne, Mohammed bin Salman, is comparatively unknown. When his father became king in January, the young Prince Mohammed was a virtual stranger to the Saudi public and had had relatively little contact with the kingdom's foreign partners. Since then he has become, as Defence Minister, the face of Saudi Arabia's newly-launched war in Yemen, with his bearded features rarely off television screens or street billboards, and is now established as a central figure. "Mohammed bin Salman can grow into the job under Mohammed bin Nayef's supervision," Alani said. The generational shift ends concerns about a line of increasingly frail, aged kings after Salman, who is 80 this year, replaced the 90 year old Abdullah. "We don't want Saudi Arabia to be ruled by one ailing leader after another," said Jamal Khashoggi, general manager of al-Arab television station. (Reporting by Sami Aboudi, Mostafa Hashem, Maha El Dahan, Reem Shamseddine, Henning Gloystein and Arshad Mohammed; Editing by William Maclean, Philippa Fletcher and Peter Graff) Saudi Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef al Saud attends the opening session of GCC Interior Ministers' Conference in Manama April 23, 2013. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed Saudi Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef al Saud attends the opening session of GCC Interior Ministers' Conference in Manama April 23, 2013. 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For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here. Saudi King Salman skips Obama summit By AFP Published: May 11, 2015 PHOTO: REUTERS WASHINGTON: Newly crowned Saudi King Salman has refused an invitation to attend a landmark summit hosted by President Barack Obama, amid angst over US-Iran nuclear negotiations. Obama had invited six Gulf kings, emirs and sultans to the presidential retreat at Camp David, seeking to shore up wavering trust while Washington negotiates with regional power Tehran. Obama’s plans now lie in tatters, with only two heads of state slated to attend the Thursday meeting. Saudi Arabia’s embassy in Washington said Sunday that recently named Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef would instead lead the Saudi delegation to the meeting. The king’s youthful son, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — who is tipped as a possible future successor and who has driven recent military operations in Yemen — will also attend. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said Salman would miss the meeting “due to the timing of the summit, the scheduled humanitarian ceasefire in Yemen and the opening of the King Salman Center for Humanitarian Aid,” according to the embassy statement. Oman’s Sultan Qaboos has been ill, and diplomats said Muscat will be represented by the deputy prime minister. Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahayan will attend, according to diplomats, as United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan is also unwell and has not appeared in public since having an operation after a stroke last year. Even before becoming king, Salman was rumored to be ill, and his son and the now crown prince have played oversized roles in Saudi foreign policy. Saudi Arabia has denied the illness. As late as Friday, US officials said they had expected Salman to come to Washington, before learning of the change in plan. “This is not in response to any substantive issue,” insisted one senior US administration official. Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Issa al-Khalifa will also miss the meeting, officials indicated Sunday, with the crown prince coming instead. That means Obama will likely meet only the leaders of Kuwait and Qatar, despite the prestigious invitation. The White House had hoped the meeting would assuage deep unease over Iran talks, which Gulf states see as a Faustian bargain, and Obama’s perceived disengagement from the region. Gulf officials had been pressing for the United States to supply advanced weapons like F-35 stealth fighters as well as a written security guarantee in the face of a threat from Iran. The Iran nuclear deal — which could be agreed in June — would curb Tehran’s nuclear program in return for unfreezing sanctions and funds worth more than $100 billion. Gulf states fear that money could be used to by arms and further support Shiite proxy groups in the region. A US official said a key part of the meetings would be to support a common Gulf defence infrastructure. “This focus on mutual security extends to various areas — counterterrorism, maritime security, cybersecurity and ballistic missile defense,” the official said. Washington and the Gulf nations are also expected to discuss conflicts across the Middle East including in Iraq, Libya, Syria and Yemen. The Obama administration has privately pressed Saudi Arabia to ease an imprecise air campaign on Yemen that appears to have had a limited military impact but caused humanitarian suffering. More than 1,400 people have been killed since late March in the conflict, according to the United Nations, and 17 aid agencies have a statement calling for an immediate ceasefire. Riyadh has offered a five-day humanitarian truce from 2000 GMT Tuesday. Yemeni rebels have said they would respond “positively” to ceasefire efforts and their allies accepted a US-backed truce plan. Salman said the Saudi-led air campaign in Yemen was launched in order to foil a plot by a “sectarian group” to undermine Middle East security and prevent the country from becoming a “theater of terrorism”. Officials also pointed out that missiles capable of reaching Saudi Arabia fell under the control of Iran-backed Huthi rebels.

Saudi king resets succession to cope with turbulent times

RIYADH | BY ANGUS MCDOWALL (Reuters) - Saudi King Salman appointed a new heir and made his young son second in line to rule on Wednesday, a major shift in power within the ultra conservative kingdom's elite at a time of almost unprecedented regional turmoil. By making Interior Minister Mohammed bin Nayef, 55, crown prince and Defence Minister Mohammed bin Salman, 30, deputy crown prince, King Salman has effectively decided the line of succession for decades to come in the world's top oil exporter. Almost all powers under the king are now concentrated in the hands of the pair, who each chair committees determining all security and economic development issues in Saudi Arabia, and have led Riyadh's month-old campaign of air strikes in Yemen. In another big shift, Salman replaced veteran Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, who had served in the role since October 1975, with the kingdom's Washington ambassador Adel al-Jubeir, the first non-royal to hold the post. Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, who replaces Prince Muqrin, the successor chosen by the late King Abdullah before his death in January, enjoys closer personal ties with U.S. officials than almost any other senior royal, diplomats have said. The changes come as Saudi Arabia navigates the messy aftermath of the Arab spring and has departed from decades of backroom politics with its military intervention in Yemen. The Yemen move, closely associated with both Prince Mohammeds, is seen by analysts as reflecting a more assertive approach to Saudi Arabia's foreign policy under Salman and his ruling team. "I think we're going to see a more confrontational policy, faster decision-making and more long-term thinking. A leadership that won't hesitate from any confrontation," said Mustafa Alani, an Iraqi security analyst with close ties to the kingdom's Interior Ministry. RELATED COVERAGE › New Saudi Crown Prince marks generational shift › Saudi king orders one-month salary bonus for security personnel It follows what many Saudis see as a decade of growing Iranian influence across the Middle East and a steady disengagement by Riyadh's historical main strategic partner Washington. Saudi Arabia also faces long-term domestic challenges, including entrenched youth unemployment, unsustainable state spending and tension between religious conservatives and more Western-oriented liberals. OIL APPOINTMENTS The reshuffle also touched the oil sector, hugely sensitive to financial markets as the world's biggest petroleum exporting country holds the key to global supplies. The chief executive of state oil firm Aramco, Khalid al-Falih, was appointed Health Minister, according to the text of the decree published on the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA). Saudi-owned al-Arabiya television also reported he had been named chairman of state oil company Saudi Aramco, a position hitherto held by veteran Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi, who remained in his ministerial post. The decree as published on SPA did not mention the new role at Aramco, but oil traders said they were closely monitoring the situation to see if there would be a new Aramco CEO and whether oil minister Naimi's position would be affected. Naimi, who is 79 years old and has been oil minister since 1995, was seen as crucial in Saudi Arabia’s decision last November not to cut production in support of crude prices, which have halved since June 2014. Analysts said oil policy was not likely to change. While Mohammed bin Nayef is a familiar figure both inside the kingdom and in the West for his role in quashing an al Qaeda uprising and leading Saudi policy in Syria, his successor as second in line to the throne, Mohammed bin Salman, is comparatively unknown. Until four months and six days ago, the young Prince Mohammed had only served as head of his father's court, was a virtual stranger to the Saudi public and had had relatively little contact with the kingdom's foreign partners. Since then he has become, as Defence Minister, the face of Saudi Arabia's newly-launched war in Yemen, with his bearded features rarely off television screens or street billboards, and is now established as a central figure. "Mohammed bin Salman can grow into the job under Mohammed bin Nayef's supervision," Alani said. The replacement of Prince Muqrin, Salman's youngest half brother, as crown prince means the present monarch will be the last of the sons of Saudi Arabia's founder King Abdulaziz Al Saud to rule after five of his brothers. It also ends concerns about a line of increasingly frail, aged kings after Salman, who is 80 this year, replaced the 90 year old Abdullah. "We don't want Saudi Arabia to be ruled by one ailing leader after another," said Jamal Khashoggi, general manager of al-Arab television station. The move also solidifies Salman's own branch of the ruling family. Abdullah's only son in a position of significant power now is Prince Miteb, who is head of the national guard and was retained in his post on Wednesday. The new deputy crown prince, who also serves as head of a top committee on economy and development, was replaced as royal court chief on Wednesday by Hamed al-Sweilam, the decree said, possibly to answer critics who said he had too many jobs. (Reporting by Sami Aboudi, Mostafa Hashem, Maha El Dahan and Reem Shamseddine and Henning Gloystein; editing by William Maclean and Philippa Fletcher) Sponsored Links by Taboola From The Web Shantan Wantan Ichiban Takes You to the Real NZ. Watch Now! Contiki NZ Better on the Ground Than in the Air ..! 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In an informal chat with The Express Tribune in Islamabad on Wednesday, the acting Saudi Ambassador Jassim Bin Mohammad Al-Khalidi asked “How would Pakistanis feel if we do the same with you (as Pakistani parliament’s resolution) in the time of crises.” Read: Decisive Storm: Saudi-led coalition calls off Yemen operation While replying to a question on whether Saudi Arabia was disappointed by the resolution adopted by Pakistan’s parliament, Al-Khalidi said that his country still hoping Pakistan would join the alliance, even if only for reconstruction and humanitarian work. This is the first time a Saudi official has publicly voiced his displeasure over Pakistan’s reluctance to commit troops, and military equipment for the Yemen operation. The acting Saudi envoy said that Pakistan’s support was crucial to send a message to the people of Yemen that not only the Arab countries, but the rest of the Muslim world was showing solidarity with Saleh’s legitimate government. Read: Yemen conflict: Is Pakistan neutral no more? Al-Khalidi, however, ruled out the possibility of launching of ground offensive in Yemen. “The situation in Yemen is now under control and most of the objectives have been achieved,” he added. With Saudi Arabia deploying co-opted Yemeni tribes back in their home areas this week, Islamabad can expect to be under a little less pressure on Yemen, meaning the cards it played by staying away from the conflict seem to have worked. Pakistan, while distancing itself from direct involvement in the Yemen conflict, had vowed it would spare no effort to defend Saudi Arabia if its territorial integrity and sovereignty was violated. However, diplomatic sources suggest that Pakistan needs to do more to appease Saudi Arabia as the Kingdom feels let down by Islamabad. Sources revealed that Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, who led a high-level delegation soon after the Parliamentary resolution to Riyadh, was confronted by Saudi authorities over Pakistan’s reluctance to join the alliance. The Saudis told the Punjab chief minister that they were not expecting the government to take the issue to the Parliament since they needed ‘urgent’ help from Pakistan. The growing unease in Riyadh had prompted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to lead a powerful delegation comprising of Army chief General Raheel Sharif to Saudi Arabia as part of a damage control exercise. In an interview with a Saudi newspaper, Nawaz had termed his recent tour of Saudi Arabia a success. He said that all issues had been discussed with King Salman in detail, including the Yemen conflict. The premier reiterated Pakistan’s stance on defending Saudi Arabia’s territorial integrity at all cost adding that Pakistan would contribute to implement a UN Security Council resolution on Yemen.