The Saudi Purge: The real reason behind Mohammed Bin Salman's unprecedented crackdown
Saudi Arabia's future king, 32-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has dramatically restructured the Kingom's longstanding hierarchy and tightened his grip with a purge that involved arresting royals, ministers and investors.
Prince Alwaleed, the world's wealthiest Arab and the face of Saudi business abroad, is a nephew of the king and owner of investment firm Kingdom Holding. He invests in firms such as Citigroup and Twitter.
Facing numerous allegations of corruption, he was among 11 princes, four ministers and tens of former ministers detained.
The allegations could not be independently verified and members of the families of those detained could not be reached.
Analysts said the purge aimed to go beyond corruption and aimed to remove potential opposition to Prince Mohammed's ambitious reform agenda, which is widely popular with the kingdom's youth but faces resistance from some of the old guard more comfortable with the kingdom's traditions of incremental change and rule by consensus.
Breaking decades of conservative tradition by promoting public entertainment and visits by foreign tourists and lifting the ban on women driving, the crown prince has also slashed state spending in some areas and plans a big sale of state assets, including floating part of state oil giant Saudi Aramco on international markets.
"Prince Mohammed, rather than forging alliances, is extending his iron grip to the ruling family, the military, and the National Guard to counter what appears to be more widespread opposition within the family as well as the military to his reforms and the Yemen war," Saudi affairs analyst James Dorsey said.
At: https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/1.821313
