Prince Bandar bin Sultan back to the forefront

Contrary to some reports, Prince Bandar bin Sultan is on his way back to Riyadh to resume work as usual. (File photo: Reuters)

Prince Bandar bin Sultan is on his way back to Riyadh where he will resume his tasks as head of Saudi Intelligence, reported news portal NOW Lebanon.
An informed Saudi source confirmed the report to Al Arabiya News.

“This is without doubt bad news for Tehran, Damascus and Hezbollah, particularly that anti-Saudi media has been propagating false information for the past two months that Prince Bandar’s absence has been due to his dismissal and due to a Saudi decision to back away from its policies regarding the regional conflict,” said the source in Riyadh.

The source confirms that Prince Bandar has actually been away due to medical reasons, however, he has resumed his activities this week from the Moroccan city of Marrakesh; where he has been recovering and where he has met with former Lebanese PM Saad Hariri and Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed.

“Prince Bandar will be in Riyadh in a week’s time, as soon as his sick leave is over. He has been recovering of a delicate surgery that he underwent to treat a shoulder injury at a hospital in the United States and has been recovering in Marrakesh,” said the source adding that “He (Prince Bandar) will return to work from his office to manage all the important tasks he was assigned by Saudi King Abdullah as of July 2012.”

On top of the issues Prince Bandar spearheads is Saudi Arabia’s support of the Free Syrian Army and the Syrian National Council in their fight against the regime massacres.

The return of the Saudi head of intelligence will certainly contradict what has been reported in the past few weeks in various media outlets, including some leading Western agencies and newspapers.

Various media reports had revealed his illness and some concluded on their own that he was dismissed from his role as head of intelligence. Some analysts mistakenly said that this was due to his opposition to regional U.S. policy and his public criticism for the current U.S. administration which has upset the White House.