Saudi crown prince upends old order

SAUDI ARABIA: A series of weekend events centered in Riyadh, the capital, may further raise tension in a fractured Middle East. In a midnight sweep Saturday, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered arrests of top officials and clerics and barred all members of the royal family from leaving the country. Billed as an anti-corruption crackdown, the detentions effectively consolidate power for the 32-year-old heir apparent to King Salman.

The detainees include Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, senior member of the royal family and one of the world’s richest men, and the arrests come just ahead of a historic public stock listing, at an expected $2 trillion, of the Saudi-owned Aramco oil company.

The crown prince also has taken steps to corral Saudi Arabia’s religious leaders, detaining dozens of hardline clerics and calling for a “moderate, balanced Islam.”

YEMEN: Saudi defense forces intercepted a ballistic missile fired from Yemen toward Riyadh, the Saudi capital, and accused Houthi militias and Iranian forces of a “dangerous escalation.”

LEBANON: Lebanon’s Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced his resignation from Saudi Arabia, citing Iranian influence over a government increasingly threatened by Hezbollah as the reason. Saudi Arabia’s state minister hinted at the move three days prior, suggesting Saudi pressure.

Taken together, the weekend maneuvers suggest Saudi rulers are taking pre-emptive steps to counteract the growing influence Iran has asserted in recent weeks in Iraq, Syria, and elsewhere. It’s too early to say whether the young crown prince, in rounding up the old guard, may be moving the country away from its strict Wahhabi rule.

SYRIA: U.S.-backed forces announced the liberation of Raqqa, once the capital of Islamic State (ISIS), and a senior Iranian official promptly announced Iranian-backed Syrian forces would liberate the city from U.S.-backed forces.

JAPAN: Trade and North Korea were the lead topics as U.S. President Donald Trump met in Tokyo with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Ape trafficking is a thing. “Transporting an adult chimp is like transporting a crate of dynamite. … The adults are extremely aggressive and dangerous. That’s why everyone wants a baby,” one expert told The New York Times.

CENTRAL AMERICA: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is expected to decide Monday whether some of the approximately 300,000 Central Americans in the United States under Temporary Protected Status, usually granted after natural disasters, could now be subject to deportation.

To have Globe Trot delivered to your email inbox, email Mindy at mbelz@wng.org.