Saudi Arabia fires top army chiefs in military shake-up

Chief of staff and top commanders of the ground and air defence forces replaced, in a series of royal decrees.

Saudi Arabia's King Salman has fired his top military commanders and reshuffled his cabinet in a shake-up of key security and government ministries, according to royal decrees.

Those dismissed include the Saudi army's chief of staff, and the heads of the ground and air defence forces.
First Lieutenant General Fayyad bin Hamed al-Ruwayli was appointed the new chief of staff.

Tamadur bint Youssef al-Ramah was appointed as deputy labour minister in a rare senior post for a woman in the kingdom.

No official reason has been given for the overhaul, but it comes as Saudi Arabia faces growing criticism of the war in Yemen.

A Saudi-led coalition launched a military offensive in March 2015 after Houthi rebels took over the capital, Sanaa, and large swathes of the impoverish country a year earlier. ---Courtesy Al-Jazeera News