REUTERS
Saudi Arabia has created a new ministry to strengthen the National Guard’s role in the kingdom. In May 2013, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud named his son, Prince Miteb bin Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, to head the National Guard Ministry.
“With this ministry, Miteb will have a stronger role to play. It gives the National Guard more authority, better structure and a larger institutional budget,” said Abdulaziz al-Sager, head of the Gulf Research Center in Jeddah.
The ministry was formed from the existing presidency of the Saudi Arabian National Guard, based in Riyadh. Beside its military duties, the guard runs large social welfare and health programs for families of guardsmen.
Saudi Arabia has appointed leading younger members of the ruling family to senior posts in the past three years, including the Interior Ministry and governorships of Riyadh and Eastern Province, two of the most important districts.
Miteb’s promotion augments the special status of the National Guard, commanded by King Abdullah from 1962-2010, as separate from the kingdom’s conventional armed forces, run by Defense Minister Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.