In Saudi Arabia, human resources turnover in recent years has ranged from the King himself, through the Crown Prince, and now includes the military top echelons. Bruce Riedel has the story for Brooking‘s Order From Chaos:
Saudi Crown Prince and Defense Minister Muhammad bin Salman (known as MBS) fired the joint chiefs of staff of the Saudi military this week. The chairman of the joint chiefs, the army commander, air defense chief, and Royal Saudi Air Force boss were replaced with no explanation. MBS said he wanted “believers” in the top military jobs in his ministry, apparently meaning believers in MBS.
The shake-up follows the ouster of the minister for the Saudi national guard last November, so the entire military leadership of the Kingdom has turned over in a few months. It’s a shattering indictment of the Saudi military high command and the conduct of the war in Yemen. Instead of the “Decisive Storm” that MBS promised in March 2015, the war is a stalemate and a quagmire.
It also probably suggests that the crown prince is ready to up the ante and try again for a military victory in the war with the Zaydi Shiite Houthis and their Iranian backers. This is MBS’s war and his signature policy initiative. Failure in Yemen is a fundamental black mark on his credibility. So it appears he is determined to double down on the blockade, the air bombardment, and trying to rally the Houthis’ enemies against them.
It appears MBS is not a subtle man. He’s plunging into what seems to me to be a morass, rather than attempting a more nuanced approach of, say, removing resources needed by his adversaries. It’ll be interesting to see if he remains the Crown Prince or if King Salman decides to replace him. I suspect it’ll depend on his success in this war.
