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Saudi Arabia
Politics
Arab Diplomacy
Website, Middle East
“News regarding concern of Saudi Monarch, King Salman, over deteriorating relations…”
On February 18, the electronic Rai al-Youm daily carried the following report: “Diplomatic and Arab circles are speaking about a rise in the level of concern felt by Saudi Monarch, King Salman Bin Abdulaziz, these days over the deteriorating relations of the Kingdom with the Arab royal regimes in Jordan, Morocco, Kuwait and the Sultanate of Oman; adding that he has started to intervene in the management of this file, which used to be overseen by Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman.

“Gulf sources told Rai al-Youm that establishing an electronic army of thousands of employees with the aim of attacking Arab states that do not entirely conform to the Saudi politics, and attacking these countries’ figures has played a major role in the deterioration of the relations with these countries in addition to using the weapon of the financial aid as a pressure card.

“Over the past decades, the Kingdom’s policy had consisted of establishing strategic, high-leveled alliances with countries like Morocco and Jordan in addition to the Gulf States. It [i.e. the Kingdom] actually considered including the two above-mentioned countries, Jordan and Morocco, in the GCC considering that they represent the main Sunni reservoir in the face of the Iranian expansion in the region. However, in a matter of months, the quality of the relations between Saudi Arabia and some royal regimes deteriorated to be added to the tense relations with Iraq and Syria and the cold relations with Tunisia, Algeria and Sudan.

“The diplomatic sources indicated that the Kingdom abided by two main criteria to determine its relationship with the other countries: the position regarding the war it is fighting against the Houthis in Yemen, and the boycotting it is imposing along with three other countries (Egypt, the UAE and Bahrain) on the state of Qatar… King Salman’s invitation to Sultan Qaboos Bin Said to visit the Kingdom and to participate as the main guest of honor at the Al-Janadriyah Festival and the King Abdulaziz Camel Festival constituted an indication to his new intention to fix and normalize the relations with the Sultanate and other royal systems…

“The map of the Saudi relations in the Arab world has become scary since these relations are tense with Syria and Iraq, mostly strange with Egypt, confused with Yemen, and cold with the royal regimes of Jordan, Kuwait, the Sultanate of Oman, and Morocco in addition to one republic, Algeria. The visits of senior Saudi officials to these countries have become quite rare if not completely absent.

“A Gulf source told Rai al-Youm that this diplomatic deterioration has angered King Salman Bin Abdulaziz and the senior diplomats who can see that long years of efforts to construct the relations have begun to be wasted especially in an era where the Kingdom’s financial capacity is declining knowing that this had been one of its main weapons…”
Co-Founder: Nicholas Noe
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