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US nominates retired Army General John Abizaid as its ambassador to Saudi Arabia

Agencies
November 14, 2018

Washington D.C, Nov 14: United States President Donald Trump on Tuesday nominated retired Army General John P. Abizaid of Nevada as Washington's ambassador to Riyadh.

A White House Press Release stated that the new ambassador was a four-star general and the longest serving commander of United States Central Command. He also served as the Director of Strategic Plans and Policy on the Joint Staff and the Director of the Joint Staff.

General Abizaid has also received the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the Army Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, and the Bronze Star.

The United States has not had an ambassador to Saudi Arabia since Trump took office in January 2017.

The appointment comes two days after State Secretary Michael R Pompeo spoke with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and said that the US would hold people involved in the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi accountable.

The United States has strategic and important partnership with Saudi Arabia but following the killing of Khashoggi, President Trump criticised the Saudi Kingdom and took a firm stand against the atrocious killing of the journalist.

Washington is not only facing pressure from the international community but also from the senators who have demanded stringent actions like sanctions against Riyadh.

Khashoggi disappeared on October 2 after stepping into Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul to collect documents that would have allowed him to get married to his fiancee Hatice Cengiz. Cengiz, who was waiting outside the consulate, raised an alarm after Khashoggi failed to re-emerge from the consulate, leading to a chain of revelations by both Turkey and Saudi Arabia regarding this case.

Saudi authorities had earlier confirmed that Khashoggi had died inside its consular premises in Istanbul, leading to the arrest of 18 Saudi officials in connection with the crime.

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Agencies
July 22,2020

Riyadh, Jul 22: Saudi King Salman held a cabinet meeting via video call from hospital in the capital Riyadh on Tuesday, a day after the 84-year-old monarch was admitted with inflammation of the gall bladder.

Three Saudi sources said the king was in stable condition.

A video of the king chairing the meeting was broadcast on Saudi state TV on Tuesday evening. In the video, which has no sound, King Salman can be seen behind a desk, wordlessly reading and leafing through documents.

The king, who has ruled the world’s largest oil exporter and close US ally since 2015, was undergoing medical checks, state media on Monday cited a Royal Court statement as saying.

Three well-connnected Saudi sources who declined to be identified, two of whom were speaking late on Monday and one on Tuesday, said the king was “fine”.

An official in the region, who requested anonymity, said he spoke to one of King Salman’s sons on Monday who seemed “calm” and that there was no sense of panic about the monarch’s health.

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Agencies
January 11,2020

Muscat, Jan 11: Oman's Sultan Qaboos bin Said has died, Aljazeera reported citing state television on Friday.

Qaboos was 79-year-old and was ill for a long time. He has served as the ruler of Oman since 1970 when he ousted his father in a bloodless coup.

Qaboos had no children and has not publicly named his successor.

Sultan Qaboos travelled to Belgium for a week in December for what was described then as "medical checks." He returned to Oman but speculations of his deteriorating health were rife.

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Agencies
January 4,2020

Baghdad, Jan 4: At least five people were killed on Saturday by an airstrike on a vehicle convoy of Iraq's Shia Popular Mobilization Forces in northern Baghdad, a source in security forces told Sputnik.

Earlier in the day, the source told Sputnik about a powerful explosion in Baghdad's northern district of Taji.

"A vehicle convoy of the Popular Mobilization Forces has been attacked. According to preliminary data, five people have died. Their names have not been clarified so far," the source said.

On Friday, several senior members of the Popular Mobilization Forces, as well as commander of the elite Quds Force of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps Qasem Soleimani, were killed by a US drone attack near the Baghdad International Airport.

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