Saudi King Replaces Crown Prince, Appoints Son Mohammad Bin Salman as Heir to Throne

RIYADH- Saudi regime’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has fired crown prince Muhammad Bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz, replacing him with his own son Mohammad Bin Salman,.

According to the king’s decree, Mohammad Bin Salman, 31, Saudi Arabia’s deputy crown prince and defense minister, was named the new crown prince instead of Muhammad Bin Nayef, Press TV reported.

 King Salman has called for public pledging of allegiance to the new crown prince in Mecca, according to local media.

The news comes amid the ongoing standoff between a number of Gulf states and Qatar. On June 5, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt cut off diplomatic relations with Qatar, accusing the latter of supporting terrorist organizations and destabilizing the situation in the Middle East.

Under the new decree, King Salman further relieved Mohammed bin Nayef of his duties as the interior minister. He appointed Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Nayef as the new interior minister and Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Salem as deputy interior minister.

Mohammed bin Salman is already in charge of a vast portfolio as chief of the House of Saud royal court and chairman of the Council for Economic and Development Affairs, which is tasked with overhauling the country’s economy.

Power struggle in the House of Saud

There had long been speculations that Mohammed’s rise to power under his father’s reign might also accelerate his ascension to the throne.

On Wednesday, a well-known Saudi online activist, known on Twitter as @mujtahidd, predicted that King Salman would renounce power in favor of his son.

The whistleblower has already leaked documents indicating high-level corruption inside the Saudi royal family.

The power struggle inside the House of Saud came to light earlier this year when the Saudi king began to overhaul the government and offered positions of influence to a number of family members.

In two royal decrees in April, the Saudi king named two of his other sons, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman and Prince Khaled bin Salman, as state minister for energy affairs and ambassador to the United States, respectively.

Mastermind of brutal, futile war

As the defense minister, Mohammed bin Salman has faced strong international criticism for the bloody military campaign he launched against neighboring Yemen in 2015 amid his rivalry with bin Nayef, the then powerful interior minister.

The campaign was launched with the aim of restoring the former Yemeni government, a close Riyadh ally, and crushing the country’s Houthi Ansarullah movement.

However, despite spending billions of petrodollars, the Riyadh regime has achieved none of its goals during the campaign, which has killed over 12,000 civilians, left much of Yemen in ruins and empowered the Takfiri terror groups operating there.

H.M