The Saudi Press Agency said that King Salman bin Abdulaziz issued orders to terminate the service of a number of senior military and civilian officials at the Ministry of Defense and refer them for investigation, most notably Lieutenant General Fahd bin Turki bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, commander of the joint forces of the Saudi-Emirati coalition in Yemen.
Lieutenant General Fahd assumed command of the joint forces in Yemen since February 2018, having previously held the position of commander of the ground forces from April 2017 until February 2018 in addition to other military positions.
Lieutenant General Fahd bin Turki supervised most of the operations of the Saudi forces inside Yemen since the start of his duties in the joint forces, and he had to supervise the financing and arming of the Yemeni government forces and coordinate with them militarily.
According to the Saudi Press Agency, the royal orders also included exempting the son of Lieutenant General Fahd, Deputy Governor of Al-Jouf Region, Prince Abdulaziz bin Fahd bin Turki Al Saud from his post and referring him to investigation.
A number of senior military and civilian officials in the Ministry of Defense were also exempted and referred to the investigation, which will be conducted by the Supervision and Anti-Corruption Commission.
Lieutenant General Mutlaq bin Salem bin Mutlaq Al-Azima, Deputy Chief of the General Staff, was assigned to carry out the work of the commander of the joint forces in Yemen, succeeding Lieutenant General Fahd bin Turki al-Maqal.
Meanwhile, the Saudi human rights activist and head of the "ALQST" organization for human rights, Yahya Asiri, said that it is difficult to guess the reasons that led to these dismissals.
In an interview with Al-Jazeera, Asiri questioned the reliability of the anti-corruption slogan adopted by the Saudi authorities.
For his part, journalist Youssef Diab described these decisions as surprising in terms of time and content, and said that they reveal the defect that afflicted the military establishment, and is being corrected today through these dismissals.