Saudi names sacked deputy defence minister new spy chief

The move comes just days after Prince Khaled bin Bandar bin Abdul Aziz was unexpectedly removed from his post as deputy defence minister.

Prince Khaled bin Bandar bin Abdul Aziz, centre, was named Saudi Arabia's new intelligence chief on July 1, 2014, just days after he was sacked from his former position as deputy defence minister. Fayez Nureldine/AFP Photo
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JEDDAH, // Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah appointed a new intelligence chief on Tuesday, giving the job to the former deputy defence minister days after sacking him from that post, SPA state news agency reported Tuesday.

Prince Khaled bin Bandar bin Abdul Aziz was unexpectedly removed from his position on Saturday after only 45 days on the job, at the request of the defence minister, Crown Prince Salman bin Abdul Aziz.

There was no reason for his sacking but early Tuesday the SPA said that Prince Khaled had been appointed “head of the General Intelligence with a minister rank” by royal decree.

The announcement comes after insurgents spearheading a Sunni militant offensive in Iraq declared an "Islamic caliphate" on Sunday, ordering Muslims around the world to pledge allegiance to their leader, Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi.

Last week, King Abdullah slammed the militants, who are also active in Syria, and instructed authorities to take "necessary measures" to defend the kingdom amid fears the Iraq offensive could spill into Saudi Arabia.

Prince Khaled will take over from Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the kingdom’s former point man on the Syrian conflict, who headed the intelligence service for two years until April.

Prince Bandar was named "advisor to the king and his special envoy" in another royal decree, reported the SPA.

A former ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar, is widely regarded as among the most influential powerbrokers in the Middle East and was appointed intelligence chief in 2012.

Diplomats said in February that he was sidelined in Saudi efforts to support rebels fighting Syrian president Bashar Al Assad.

They said his management of the Syrian file had triggered American criticism and the matter was discussed during US officials’ visits to the kingdom.

Prince Bandar himself reproached Washington for its decision not to intervene militarily in Syria, and for preventing its allies from providing rebels with much-needed weapons, according to diplomats.

Saudi Arabia has been strongly supportive of the rebels battling President Al Assad.

* Agence France-Presse