ISTANBUL – Saudi Arabia said Thursday that it had detained more than 200 people as part of an expanding “anti-corruption” campaign that has led to the arrests at least 11 princes and some of the country’s wealthiest and most prominent business tycoons. Also detained was Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a billionaire investor who holds large stakes in companies such as Twitter and Apple. The anti-graft campaign has overlapped with a spike in tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran, its regional nemesis: a coincidence of timing, or a sign that Mohammed and the Saudi leadership were mounting a broad offensive against enemies, at home and abroad. Over the past five days, Saudi Arabia’s turbulence has reverberated across the Middle East. Iran and Saudi Arabia traded bitter accusations over the war in Yemen after Saudi Arabia claimed that Iran bore responsibility for a missile strike on Saturday that reached Riyadh, the Saudi capital.

Source: National Post November 09, 2017 21:22 UTC