1969 Saudi Arabian coup d'état plot
| 1969 Saudi Arabian coup d'état plot | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Cold War | |||||
| |||||
| Belligerents | |||||
|
Committee for the Liberation of Saudi Arabia |
 USA | ||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||
|
Col. Daoud Roumi † Col. Said al-Omari † Yusuf Tawwil |
 Faisal of Saudi Arabia | ||||
| Strength | |||||
| 200-300 Officers and civilians | |||||
The 1969 Saudi Arabian coup d'état plot was a failed coup d'état planned by numerous high-ranking members of the Royal Saudi Air Force that resulted in King Faisal ordered the arrest of hundreds of military officers, including some generals.[1][2] The arrests were possibly based on a tip from American intelligence,[3] but it is unclear how serious the threat actually was.
Background
The 1950s and 1960s saw numerous coups d'état in the region. Muammar al-Gaddafi's coup that overthrew the monarchy in oil-rich Libya in 1969 was especially ominous for Saudi Arabia due to the similarity between the two sparsely-populated desert countries.[3] As a result, King Faisal undertook to build a sophisticated security apparatus and cracked down firmly on dissent. As in all affairs, King Faisal justified these policies in Islamic terms. Early in his reign, when faced by demands for a written constitution for the country, King Faisal responded that "our constitution is the Quran."[4]
The Plot
Utilizing the air force planes at their disposal, the plan was bomb the Royal Palace in Riyadh from the air, and hopefully in the process kill the King as well as other high ranking Princes who could possibly try and replace him. Following the Kings death the plotters planned to announce the formation of the Republic of the Arabian Peninsula.[2]
Many of the conspirators were of Hijazi origin, and Yusuf Tawwil, a Hidjazi merchant, acquaintance of Prince Fahd, and one of the key conspirators, was believed to hold Hijazi separatist beliefs, with Hejaz having been an independent Kingdom until being annexed by the Saudi's in 1925. Others involved in the plot were Najdis or Sunni's from Eastern Province.[5]
References
- ↑ Faisal ibn Abd al Aziz ibn Saud Biography. Encyclopedia of World Biography. Retrieved 16 March 2007.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Tietelbaum, Joshua, "A Family Affair: Civil-Military Relations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia", p. 11.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Vassiliev, p. 371
- ↑ Official website of the Saudi Deputy Minister of Defense, , quoting from the official Saudi government journal Umm Al-Qura Issue 2193, 20 October 1967.
- ↑ Abir, Mordechai (1993). Saudi Arabia: Governement, Society and the Gulf Crisis. Routledge. p. 58.