| Khalid bin Sultan | |
|---|---|
| Prince Khalid during the First Gulf War | |
| Deputy Minister of Defense and Aviation | |
| Assistant Minister of Defense and Aviation | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office January 2011-1 November 2011 |
|
| Monarch | Abdullah of Saudi Arabia |
| Minister | Sultan bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1949 |
| Nationality | Saudi Arabian |
| Alma mater | Royal Military Academy Sandhurst CGSC Air War College |
| Religion | Sunni Islam |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | Saudi Arabia |
| Service/branch | Saudi Arabian Army |
| Years of service | -1991 |
| Rank | Field Marshall |
| Battles/wars | Gulf War |
Khaled bin Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud (Arabic: خالد بن سلطان بن عبد العزيز آل سعود)(born 1949) is the Assistant Minister of Defense and Aviation of Saudi Arabia. He led Saudi troops in the First Persian Gulf War and led the botched Yemen bombing in late 2009 against Shia insurgents. He is the eldest son of the late Crown Prince Sultan.
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Khalid attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and the US Army's Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas. He graduated from the Air War College at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama.
Khalid served in various branches of Saudi Arabia's military before becoming Commander of the Joint Forces in the first Persian Gulf War. King Fahd promoted him to Field Marshal afterward. In 1991, he retired from the military to focus on business. In January 2001, he was brought back into military as Assistant Defense Minister of Military Affairs.
In early 2011, he announced that “more than 70 percent of military equipment can be produced locally" and the future creation of a government branch for domestic military growth.[1] He is a likely candidate to replace his deceased father as Defense Minister.[2] He has been criticized for his "weak military credentials".[2]
In November 2009, Khalid led a Saudi military intervention in Yemen. The campaign had various tactical mistakes and Khalid was heavily criticized. The Saudis had 130 casualties and Yemen lost over 1000.[2]
In December 2009, Khalid gave a 48-hour ultimatum for Houthi withdrawal from Al-Jabri. Soon, he declared that the campaign had ended after the Houthi promised through Al-Quds Al-Arabi they would withdraw from the border in exchange for a cease fire. The Houthi also stated that the Yemen government had used Saudi territory to bomb targets.[3]
In February 2010, Ambassador Smith met with Khalid. Smith brought attention to Saudi air strikes on Yemeni hospitals. Khalid admitted that the event occurred because Yemen had designated the area as a Houthi military base. He also stated that this event occurred because of inaccurate military equipment and the U.S. refusal to provide Predators. He went on to state that Saudi strategy was to force the Houthis to reconcile with the Yemeni government by a strong show of military force. He complained that it was difficult to avoid civilian casualties. [4] The Saudi-Yemeni joint committee granted clearances to Khalid for attacks to be conducted.[4][5] He complained that Yemeni intelligence was unreliable and politically motivated. Yemen data claimed terrorist positions in a place when in actuality the place was the office of General Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmar, a political adversary to President Saleh.[4][6]
King Abdullah was irritated by Khalid's leadership. Abdullah complained about the long duration of the conflict, large number of casualties, and Saudi incompetence. Khalid's likelihood of succeeding his father as Defense Minister largely decreased.[3]
He is the chairman for the committee of the Prince Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz International Prize for Water..[7]
He owns the newspaper Al-Hayat. He does not interfere in its articles as long as no royal criticism is published.[8]