Saudi Arabia has appointed a new defence chief of staff and promoted six as part of the kingdom’s ongoing government reshuffle.

A royal order, citing recommendations by the Defence Minister Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, who is also Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, named Fyyadh bin Hamid bin Ragad al-Ruwaili as the new Defence Ministry chief of staff, replacing Abdulrahman bin Saleh Abdullah al-Bunyan, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said.

Al-Ruwaili is understood to have been once the commander of the Saudi Royal Air Force and most recently was the Defence Ministry’s deputy chief of staff.

Air Defence Forces Commander Mohammed bin Awadh bin Mansour Suhaim and Land Forces Commander Fahd bin Turki bin Abdulazi al-Saud were also relieved from their posts, although Al-Saud  was promoted to commander of the joint forces.

Other generals who were promoted by the royal order include Mutlaq bin Salem bin Mutlaq al-Ezaime, deputy chief of staff; Jarallah bin Mohammed bin Jarallah al-Elwait, commander of the strategic missiles forces; Fahd bin Abdullah bin Mohammed al-Mitair, commander of land forces; Mazyad bin Sulaiman bin Mazyad al-Amro, commander of air defence forces; and Turki bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, commander of air forces.

A subsequent royal order named Al-Bunyan as consultant at the Royal Court with a rank of general staff.

The SPA did not specify the reasons for the reshuffle.