MANAMA, Bahrain (AFP)–The king of Bahrain has cemented royal family control of the country’s armed forces by appointing his son and crown prince as deputy commander of the army.
King Hamad bin Issa al-Khalifa appointed Crown Prince Sheikh Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa deputy commander-in-chief of the armed forces, which comprise the army and the National Guard, by a royal decree issued Sunday.
MANAMA, Bahrain (AFP)–The king of Bahrain has cemented royal family control of the country’s armed forces by appointing his son and crown prince as deputy commander of the army.
King Hamad bin Issa al-Khalifa appointed Crown Prince Sheikh Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa deputy commander-in-chief of the armed forces, which comprise the army and the National Guard, by a royal decree issued Sunday.
Sheikh Salman will “oversee the implementation of public policy and the military, administrative, economic and financial affairs of the Bahrain Defence Force and the National Guard, in addition to other authorities entrusted to him by the supreme commander,” the decree said.
Sheikh Hamad is the supreme commander of the armed forces in the tiny Gulf archipelago – the strategic home of the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet tasked with securing the Strait of Hormuz through which much of world oil supplies pass.
