The House of Al Saud is the ruling royal family of Saudi Arabia. It is composed of the descendants of Muhammad bin Saud,founder of the Emirate of Diriyah,known as the First Saudi State,(1727–1818),and his brothers,though the ruling faction of the family is primarily led by the descendants of Ibn Saud,the modern founder of Saudi Arabia. It forms a subtribe of the larger prominent ancient Banu Hanifa tribe of Arabia,from which well known 7th century Arabian theologist Maslama ibn Ḥabīb originates. The most influential position of the royal family is the King of Saudi Arabia,an absolute monarch. The family in total is estimated to comprise 15,000 members;however,the majority of power,influence and wealth is possessed by a group of about 2,000 of them. Some estimates of the royal family's wealth measure their net worth at $1.4 trillion. This figure includes the market capitalization of Saudi Aramco,the state oil and gas company,and its vast assets in fossil fuel reserves,making them the wealthiest family in the world and the wealthiest in recorded history.
Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz Al Saud is a member of House of Saud who served as deputy minister of interior from 1975 to 2012 and briefly as minister of interior in 2012. He was detained in March 2020 on the orders of his brother and nephew,King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman,respectively,and charged with treason.
Jamal Ahmad Khashoggi was a Saudi journalist,dissident,author,columnist for Middle East Eye and The Washington Post,and a general manager and editor-in-chief of Al-Arab News Channel who was assassinated at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on 2 October 2018 by agents of the Saudi government at the behest of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
According to the British government,the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have long been close allies. Relations between the two countries date back to 1848,when Faisal bin Turki,ruler of the Second Saudi state,formally requested the support of the British Political Resident in Bushire for his representative in Trucial Oman.
Mashour bin Abdulaziz Al Saud is a member of the House of Saud and a member of Saudi Arabia's Allegiance Council. He is a half-brother of King Salman and the father-in-law of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud is a member of the Saudi ruling family. He has been detained without charge or explanation since January 2018 as part of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's 2017–2019 Saudi Arabian purge.
The king of Saudi Arabia,officially the King of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,is the head of state and head of government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia who holds absolute power. He is the head of the Saudi Arabian royal family,the House of Saud. The king is the commander-in-chief of the Saudi Arabian Armed Forces and the head of the Saudi national honors system. The king is called the "Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques",a title that signifies Saudi Arabia's jurisdiction over the mosques of Masjid al-Haram in Mecca and Al-Masjid an-Nabawi in Medina. The title has been used many times through the history of Islam. The first Saudi king to use the title was Faisal;however,King Khalid did not use the title after him. In 1986,King Fahd replaced "His Majesty" with the title of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques,and it has been since used by both King Abdullah and King Salman. The king has been named the most powerful and influential Muslim and Arab leader in the world according to the Muslim 500.
Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud,also known as MBS or MbS,is the de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,formally serving as Crown Prince and Prime Minister. He is the heir apparent to the Saudi throne,the seventh son of King Salman of Saudi Arabia,and the grandson of the nation's founder,Ibn Saud.
Ghanem Humood al-Masarir al-Dosari is a London-based Saudi human rights activist and a popular political satirist. He hosts an online talk show named the Ghanem Show,which features segments such as "Fadfada" where he criticizes the Saudi royal family through the use of black comedy.
Prince Khalid bin Salman Al Saud is a Saudi Arabian diplomat and politician who serves as the Saudi Arabian Minister of Defense. He was appointed Defense Minister on 27 September 2022. He is a grandson of the founder of Saudi Arabia King Abdulaziz,the tenth child and ninth son of King Salman,and a younger brother of Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman.
The 2017–2019 Saudi Arabian purge was the mass arrest of a number of prominent Saudi Arabian princes,government ministers,and business people in Saudi Arabia on 4 November 2017. It took place weeks after the creation of an anti-corruption committee led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The following lists events in the year 2018 in Saudi Arabia.
On 2 October 2018,Jamal Khashoggi,a Saudi dissident journalist,was killed by agents of the Saudi government at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul,Turkey. Khashoggi was ambushed and strangled by a 15-member squad of Saudi operatives. His body was dismembered and disposed of in some way that was never publicly revealed. The consulate had been secretly bugged by the Turkish government and Khashoggi's final moments were captured in audio recordings,transcripts of which were subsequently made public.
The Tiger Squad,also known as UNIT 1103,and officially called the Rapid Intervention Force,is a protective security unit under the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia,Mohammed bin Salman. According to an unnamed source interviewed by the London-based online news outlet Middle East Eye following the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi in October 2018 and a BBC source inside Saudi Arabia who has a relative in the squad,it is a Saudi team that consists of approximately one-hundred fifty Saudi officers.
The assassination of Jamal Khashoggi,a Saudi dissident,journalist for The Washington Post and former general manager and editor-in-chief of Al-Arab News Channel,occurred on 2 October 2018 at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and was denounced by the majority of the international community.
The Human Right Commission is a Saudi government organization established on 12 September 2005 by the decision of the council of ministers. It claims to be independent of the Saudi government. The Commission states its aim as the protection and promotion of human rights in line with international standards.
In January 2020,the FTI Consulting company claimed that in May 2018 with "medium to high confidence" the phone of Jeff Bezos had been hacked by a file sent from the WhatsApp account of the crown prince of Saudi Arabia,Mohammed bin Salman. The Saudi Arabian embassy to the United States has denied the allegations. Billionaire Jeff Bezos,the owner of The Washington Post newspaper and founder of the company Amazon,engaged FTI Consulting in February 2019 after the National Enquirer reported details of Bezos's affair in January 2019. FTI Consulting did not link the National Enquirer to the hack. In December 2021,the FBI stated they could not find proof to substantiate claims that Saudi Arabia hacked Jeff Bezos's phone,and has considered an investigation into those allegations a low priority.
In 2014 and 2015,a team of Saudi agents allegedly stole proprietary and sensitive personal data from the American social media platform Twitter,in order to unmask anonymous dissidents of Saudi Arabia. Email addresses,phone numbers,internet IP addresses,dates of birth and a history of all the users' activity of Saudi dissidents,opponents and others,were among the stolen materials.
The Bees Army or Geish al-Nahl,also called the "Electronic Bees",refers to an opposition movement aimed at confronting what the movement describes as Saudi Arabian government propaganda. The movement consisted of 600 members as of 2018 and was supported by Jamal Khashoggi,who was assassinated by agents of the Saudi government. In May 2021,the Saudi Arabian authorities commenced an arrest campaign to detain the people whom were claimed to be the members of the movement.
The Prince Mohammed Bin Salman College for Cybersecurity,Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Technologies is a higher education technological college in Riyadh,Saudi Arabia. Established by Saud al-Qahtani in 2018,it is named after Mohammed bin Salman,the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia since 2017. It is the first academic institute in Saudi Arabia dedicated for the study of cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.
Saudi Arabia 
Royal Saudi Air Force 
Sergeant