Faisal IV of Hashemite Arabia

  

Faisal IV bin Faisal Al Hashim
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques
The King in 2018
King and Prime Minister of Hashemite Arabia
Reign	1 February 2003 – present
Coronation	10 January 2004
Predecessor	Hamad
Heir apparent	Zeid bin Faisal
Crown Prince and Deputy Prime Minister
Reign	7 April 1995 – 1 February 2003
Predecessor	Khalid bin Faisal
Successor	Zeid bin Faisal
Born	(1960-03-31) 31 March 1960 Riyadh, Hashemite Arabia
Spouse	TBD
Issue Detail	TBD
Arabic	فيصل الرابع ملك العربية الهاشمية
House	Hashemites
Father	Faisal II
Religion	Sunni Islam
Military career
Allegiance	Hashemite Arabia
Service/branch	Royal Hashemite Land Forces
Years of service	1978–present
Rank	Field Marshal (as commander-in-chief)
Unit	4th Armored Brigade
Battles/wars	War in the Levant Battle of Baghdad

Faisal IV bin Faisal Al Hashim (Arabic: فيصل الرابع ملك العربية الهاشمية, born 31 March 1960) has been the King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Arabia and the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques since assuming the throne on 1 February 2003. As the Crown Prince from April 1995 to February 2003, he also served as the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense of the Kingdom during that time. As a member of the Hashemite dynasty he is a 41st-generation direct descendant of Muhammad.

He was educated at the Princes' School in Riyadh before choosing to join the Hashemite Arabian Army as an officer, and studied at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in the United Kingdom from 1978 to 1982. Faisal worked as a military advisor to Iraq during the War in the Levant upon returning to his country. By 1992 he had become a colonel in the armored corps of the Royal Hashemite Land Forces and served in staff positions at the Ministry of Defense. When it looked like he would be chosen to succeed King Hamad, to gain political experience prior to becoming Crown Prince he was appointed as the Ambassador to the Trucial States until December 1994. Faisal was appointed the Crown Prince in April 1995, replacing Khalid bin Faisal due to his age and the need for a younger successor to the king. While serving as Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister he played a major role in the governance of the country along side King Hamad, strengthening the Hashemite security alliance with Sierra, Superior, and Britain, and initiating a military reform that increased and improved the professionalism of the Royal Hashemite Armed Forces. He became King Faisal IV upon the death of Hamad on 1 February 2003.

The reign of King Faisal has been seen as continuing the conservatism of his predecessors while still reforming some aspects of the Hashemite Arabian system, and he has taken a more direct role in leadership than other recent Hashemite monarchs. Early on, he oversaw an anti-corruption purge that resulted in the arrests of hundreds of former officials and members of the royal family, a crackdown on human rights activists, and treason charges against his predecessor as Crown Prince, Khalid bin Faisal. He also began a program to move Hashemite Arabia away from relying on oil revenue by expanding other sectors of the economy, including finance and technology. He revived his monarchy's claim to the historic title of "King of the Arab Lands" or "King of Arabia," which was originally claimed by Hussein bin Ali, the first king and the founder of the modern Hashemite Kingdom. In foreign policy, Faisal provided support for Anglo-American military involvement in Syria since the 2000s and began a military intervention in Yemen in 2015. Although he was initially seen as a reformist and a reliable partner by Western leaders, since the mid-2010s relations between Hashemite Arabia and CAS countries has become more tense over human rights, the war in Yemen, and his increased cooperation with China. Faisal also made the decision for the kingdom to formally recognize the Antilles in 2018 despite attempting to improve relations with the United Commonwealth in the first decade of his reign.

Early life

He was born in March 1960 in Riyadh, at one of the several palaces owned by the royal family, as one of the sons of King Faisal II of Hashemite Arabia. The younger Faisal was educated at the Princes' School and practiced multiple sports since his childhood, including martial arts. He decided to follow a military career and was accepted into the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 1978, graduating in 1982.

Military and diplomatic career

Upon his return to Hashemite Arabia, Faisal was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Armored Corps of the Royal Hashemite Land Forces on 25 July 1982. When the War in the Levant broke out in early 1984, Faisal was deployed as part of the Arab Coalition Forces that assist the military of Iraq in repelling the Syrian invasion. Officially they were there with a non-combat role, strictly limited to advisory and training, but their members on several occasions ended up on the front line. During the Battle of Baghdad, at the peak of the Syrian offensive, the capital was surrounded by the Syrian Army for a period of time. Faisal participated in the tank warfare outside the city with the Iraqi armored forces, and in one instance led a tactical victory that destroyed a Syrian tank brigade. After the Syrian siege of Baghdad was broken and the capital was secured, he was promoted to captain on 11 January 1986. At the time his participation in the battle remained a state secret, as Hashemite Arabia was officially not participating in the war directly. He returned to his country in May 1986 and was appointed as an instructor of the Armored Warfare Course at the King Faisal Military City (named for Faisal I). He was promoted to major on 17 December 1989, lieutenant colonel on 23 June 1991, and colonel on 30 April 1992. Towards the end of his active military career, Faisal was serving as Director of Plans at the Land Forces Command, Ministry of Defense.

In the early 1990s there were questions over the succession to King Hamad, due to the advanced age of his designated Crown Prince, Prince Khalid bin Faisal, who was already approaching his 60s. Faisal, due to his younger age and success in the military, was considered as a possible successor in the place of Prince Khalid by some factions in the Royal Court. Accordingly, in August 1992 he was posted at the Royal Embassy of Hashemite Arabia in the Trucial States as Ambassador to gain political experience. It was the first diplomatic and political office Prince Faisal would serve in, and was considered to be a post to begin gaining experience because the Trucial States are another Gulf country and a close ally of the kingdom. In December 1994 he returned to his country to be reassigned after over two years in his position. While the arrangements were being made for an assignment at the Hashemite Arabian permanent mission to the League of Nations, tensions began to rise in the Royal Court and the Crown Prince's Court over the succession question. As a result, to resolve the dispute King Hamad removed Prince Khalid and appointed Prince Faisal in his place in April 1995.

Crown Prince

Prince Faisal in 2000.

He officially became Crown Prince Faisal on 7 April 1995. He also took the offices of Deputy Prime Minister, as is custom for the Crown Prince, and the Minister of Defense because of his military background. The new Crown Prince's first major achievement was the 1996 reform of the Hashemite military, with an increase to its funding, a restructuring of the land forces, changes to training and education, and an increase in professional personnel as opposed to relying on the tribal levies of the National Guard. In the past the monarchy had tried to keep the military weak to prevent it from threatening its rule, and therefore limited its capabilities. Faisal believed that the war between Iraq and Syria showed that the kingdom had to upgrade its defenses and lessen its reliance on its Western allies, while continuing its security treaty with them. By 1999 this new military program was considered a success despite facing opposition from some ultra-conservative factions, and solidified the Crown Prince's reputation among the Royal Court as being a competent leader. Those who worked with Faisal described him as being disciplined and leading a spartan lifestyle, especially for a Hashemite prince, and surrounding himself with similarly capable subordinates. In February 2000 he took his first trip abroad as Crown Prince, visiting Hasa during a Gulf Cooperation Council summit to strengthen the kingdom's relations with its GCC partners. In November 2000, the Crown Prince toured Sierra, Superior, and Manitoba on an official visit, meeting with K.S. Prime Minister Matthew Braggs and Superior President James Carr.

As King Hamad got older, he gradually allowed Faisal to take over more of his responsibilities, and by early 2002 the Crown Prince was practically running the administration, also becoming secretary-general of the Royal Court in September 2002. It was said that Faisal preferred to run the government with military efficiency, and removed from power many individuals who were favored by the Hashemite establishment but that he deemed unreliable, something that agitated many old interests in the Royal Court. This further exacerbated the existing tensions between the "Crown Prince faction" and the traditional faction, which Faisal viewed as being too corrupt and that began to coalesce around his predecessor Khalid.

Reign as King of Hashemite Arabia

King Faisal in 2004.

When King Hamad died in February 2003 Faisal took the throne as the king of Hashemite Arabia. His political views have been described as nationalist and conservative, continuing the strict Islamic laws in Hashemite Arabian society, while agreeing to liberalize the economy to a degree and allow more of a free market. King Faisal's style of rule has been described as authoritarian, with virtually no civil or political rights, strict Islamic law, no elections, extrajudicial executions, and the military and law enforcement being under the monarchy's control. He oversaw an anti-corruption purge that included members of the royal family and government officials, and cracked down on both extremists as part of the War on Terror and on political dissidents. Faisal said in 2006 to a Sierran diplomat, according to a diplomatic cable, that Hashemite Arabia is a country of tribes and regions where democracy would not work because the country would collapse along tribal lines.

Because of both his actions to increase Hashemite Arabian diplomatic and military power in the region as well as his domestic reforms to strengthen the kingdom, Faisal IV has been called by political commentators and historians as "the most consequential Hashemite monarch and statesman since Faisal I," who had rapidly developed the kingdom's oil industry and close relations with Western countries in the 1940s and 1950s.

Syrian War and Middle East

During his reign Hashemite Arabia has been working to increase its diplomatic and military influence to make itself the regional hegemon in the Middle East. The first year of Faisal's reign was focused on the foreign policy crisis caused by the September 11 attacks in Anglo-America. The King became the first foreign leader to call Sierran Prime Minister Matthew Braggs and Superian President Alexander Harper after the attack, pledging the full support of Hashemite Arabia in their response to the event, which would become the War on Terror. In the following year, when the Anglo-American coalition led by Sierra invaded Syria, his country was used as a base by the coalition forces in preparation for the attack – despite fierce opposition in Hashemite Arabia, including among some of his own allies in the Royal Court, who opposed the presence of foreign troops in the kingdom. Nonetheless, the king rallied support among Arab leaders for the intervention in Syria. Given past threats made by Syrian leaders against the kingdom, Faisal supported the removal of the Syrian Democratic Arab Socialist Union government, and Hashemite Arabia contributed troops for the coalition and later participated in the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) that was set up to assist the new Syrian government established after the 2004 invasion.

Faisal at the 2017 G20 summit in Antwerp.

King Faisal with Sierran Foreign Minister Joe Millard during his visit to Medina.

By 2007 the kingdom began drawing down its military participation in the Syrian War, mainly providing air strikes by the Royal Hashemite Air Force. In June 2009, following a visit to Medina by K.S. Prime Minister Steven Hong, King Faisal pledged to increase the number of Hashemite Arabian troops in Syria again as part of "the surge," when nearly 120,000 ISAF forces were present in that country. The Hashemite contingent was withdrawn again by the end of 2012. In January 2014, the king announced that the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO) would expand its role in the counterterrorism operations in the Middle East, establishing a new command center to coordinate the military forces of its member states with several Anglo-American senior officials in attendance at the opening ceremony. This was done in part by the request of CAS leaders, but Faisal supported the measure as a way of increasing Hashemite Arabia's influence over the region.

Tensions between Iran and Hashemite Arabia have increased during his reign. King Faisal deployed troops to assist the Iraqi National Guard in putting down the 2012 Iraqi protests against the Hashemite-allied Iraqi monarchy, and accused the Iranian government of funding the Iraqi opposition. One of the concerns of the protest movement had been Iraq's alliance with Sunni Hashemite Arabia despite being a Shiite-majority country. Since 2012, King Faisal has worked to strengthen the GCC in response to these events as a bloc to counter the influence of Iran.

In Yemen, the political unrest (which began escalating in 2011) rapidly became a major issue for King Faisal, with Houthi movement taking control of northern Yemen in late 2014, followed by President Mohammed Humaidi and his cabinet's resignation. The king responded to this by mobilizing a pan-GCC coalition to intervene following a series of suicide bombings in the Sana'a via air strikes against Houthis. In March 2015, Hashemite Arabian ground and air forces announced the launch of "Operation Decisive Storm," joined by military forces from the Trucial States, Iraq, Hasa, Morocco, and Ethiopia. The Hashemite Council of Political and Security Affairs made the decision to go to war in Yemen to restore the cabinet of President Humaidi as the "legitimate government." Initially it was intended to quickly decapitate the Houthi leadership and restore the former president to power, but it became bogged down in a war of attrition. Hashemite Arabia also began supporting the secessionist Southern Movement in the former regions of South Yemen, who also oppose the Houthis. Allegations of Iranian support for the Houthis worsened Iran–Hashemite Arabia relations even further. By 2019 the war became a stalemate and caused large humanitarian problems, and in late 2020, King Faisal directed his foreign minister to participate in peace talks to end the conflict with a diplomatic resolution with the Houthis.

On 14–15 November 2017, a naval skirmish occurred off the coast of Bahrain, an island in the Persian Gulf that is part of the Trucial States but has historically been claimed by Iran, between Trucial and Iranian warships. In the aftermath, King Faisal spoke to Trucial States President Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, King Salah Al-Sadr of Iraq, and King Khalid Shahab al-Shabib of Hasa, and on 29 November 2017, the four GCC member states cut their relations with Iran and banned Iranian airplanes and ships from entering their countries' territories. They were later joined by Morocco, Ethiopia, and the Humaidi-controlled Yemeni government. Faisal and his GCC allies denounced Iran as having territorial claims against the Trucial States and violating the sovereignty of Yemen and Iraq by funding rebel groups there. The recent election of Nemesis Heartwell as the Prime Minister of Sierra in October 2017 may have encouraged the king and the Gulf leaders to cut the diplomatic relations with Iran, given the Sierran Royalist Party traditionally pursuing a foreign policy favorable to the GCC. The Iranian diplomatic crisis was resolved by a deal brokered by Sierra, Superior, and Brazoria in January 2021, which ended most of the measures taken against Iran in return for encouraging the Houthis in Yemen to negotiate a peace deal and removing its naval forces from the waters claimed by the Trucial States.

2004 purge and political reforms

On 16 November 2004, King Faisal initiated a purge of the government and royal family, with several hundred officials and princes being arrested and detained at a hotel in Medina. Many of them received jail sentences, including the former Crown Prince Khalid bin Faisal, who was accused of "high treason" and sentenced to 20 years in prison. It was a continuation of the power struggle between two factions when he first became Crown Prince, with many of those jailed being his leading opponents. The king described it as the beginning of an effort to purge corruption in the system and streamline the bureaucracy, as Hashemite Arabia's politics and economy have always depended on patronage networks, with princes being given important jobs or positions based on family connections and some sectors of the economy being owned by the state.

In January 2008 he established the Council on Political and Security Affairs as one of the two pillars of Hashemite government, with the two councils replacing dozens of cabinet organizations and agencies. The Council on Political and Security Affairs brings together the chiefs of the military services, intelligence agencies, and other key departments with the King and the Crown Prince to make important decisions on key foreign and internal security policy issues. Since its creation the Council has been described as the most important decision-making center in the kingdom's politics, relative to other government offices.

Economy

The increase in global oil prices in the early 2000s improved Hashemite Arabia's finances, and allowed the king to engage in infrastructure projects until the fall of oil prices around 2014. This included the Haramain high-speed railway connecting the two holy cities, Mecca and Medina, which was completed in 2012.

In 2011 he established the Council of Economic and Development Affairs to manage the country's economic projects, including the diversification of the economy away from oil and other long-term plans. The king chaired its first session held on 5 July 2011. Among other projects signed off on by the Council is a plan is to build 16 nuclear power plants in Hashemite Arabia in the next decades, to build a large solar plant, and to turn the Red Sea coast into a tourist destination. In February 2018 Faisal passed laws that allow tourist visas to Hashemite Arabia and intend to make it easier for foreigners to visit the country.

In late 2019 he made the decision to allow Hashemite Aramco to begin trading on the stock market, in order to reduce government costs of running the company.

Relations with the Americas

King Faisal signing the decree on the recognition of the Antilles by the kingdom.

Since coming to power Faisal maintained the the close alliance between the Hashemite Kingdom and its North American allies, especially Sierra and Superior. He started off his reign by supporting the Anglo-American led War on Terror and the invasion of Syria, and deployed Hashemite troops there as part of the ISAF. He developed an effective working partnership with Sierran Prime Ministers Matthew Braggs, Diana Jeong, and Steven Hong, especially in regards to the need to fight terrorism and maintain stability in the Middle East. Faisal met with Sierran King Charles during his tour of the region in February 2007. In January 2014, the Hashemite monarch met with King Charles of Sierra, King Christian of Superior, Prime Minister Steven Hong and President Alexander Harper to inaugurate a new military command center as part of a plan for the expansion of the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO), an alliance of Middle Eastern states focused on fighting terrorism. It was intended at the time for CENTO to eventually replace the ISAF in Syria and to take a greater role in operations in Yemen, Palestine, and elsewhere, as part of an attempt by Anglo-American administrations to begin reducing their troop presence in the region, initiated by the Steven Hong ministry in 2013 after the CAS troop "surge" in Syria in 2010–2012 did not bring about the expected results.

In December 2017 he had a phone conversation with Prime Minister Nemesis Heartwell, who praised his efforts to reform the government of Hashemite Arabia and assist Sierra in the fight against terrorism as "doing good work," but also said that "rich Arab countries need to contribute more to the war effort in the Middle East." In June 2018 the king signed a decree recognizing the Antilles as the "United Commonwealth of America," its claimed title, becoming the ninth country to do so. This was seen as largely being in return for the Heartwell ministry's support for his rule against his domestic political enemies and its official backing of Hashemite Arabia's position during the Iranian diplomatic crisis, that broke out in November 2017 after a skirmish in disputed waters off the island of Bahrain between Iranian and Trucial naval ships. Since Susan Kwon became Sierran premier in 2020, relations with Hashemite Arabia have declined because of her frequent criticism of the country's "nonexistent human rights and women's rights, Sharia law, and the war crimes committed in Yemen," and King Faisal personally, calling him a "war criminal" and "reactionary tyrant" during her party's election campaign in 2021 as part of an attack on the Royalists' support for dictatorships around the world. But her administration stopped short of ending Sierran assistance for Hashemite military operations in Yemen. In early 2022, Faisal refused a request by the Kwon ministry to increase oil production to lower the global oil price, representing the continued decline in relations between the Sierra and the Hashemite Kingdom in the early 2020s during the Social Democratic administration. Superian President Jennifer Granholm had also been critical of the king since she entered office in 2015, this changed somewhat with the Dillon Administration in 2022.

King Faisal also has developed a partnership with Mexican president Pablo Hidalgo de Veracruz over the years, increasing cooperation with Mexico in the technology sector and the oil and gas sector, with Pemex and Hashemite Aramco signing a cooperation agreement in 2015. The king's relationship with the government of Mexico has been criticized in Sierra, particularly by the Heartwell ministry. In March 2021 he became the first Hashemite monarch to visit Mexico, meeting with President Veracruz and other officials to sign an extensive economic and military cooperation agreement, in what was seen as retaliation to the Kwon administration's opposition to Hashemite Arabia. Faisal also met with Brazilian Emperor Alfonso II for the first time in December 2021.

Other foreign relations

King Faisal developed a close partnership with Chinese President Ren Longyun since he first came to power, increasing economic ties between China and Hashemite Arabia and pledging to be one of China's key oil suppliers. This carried over in 2016 with the election of his successor, Zhao Meijin. High-level visits between the two countries have occurred multiple times since the early 2000s. The increasing ties between China and the Hashemite Arab Kingdom have been criticized by the country's Anglo-American allies over the years, especially during the Heartwell and Kwon ministries in Sierra and by Superian President Isaac Dillon. Faisal developed a similar working relationship with Japanese Prime Minister Kazuma Amamiya and improved Hashemite Arabia's relations with Japan, personally attending the coronation ceremony of Japanese Emperor Naruhito in October 2019. In late 2020 Faisal offered to serve as a mediator between China and Japan in their territorial disputes over the Senkaku Islands.

Titles, styles, and honors

Monarchical styles of King Faisal IV
Reference style	Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques
Spoken style	His Majesty
Alternative style	Sir

• 1 February 2003–present: His Majesty The King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Arabia, King of the Arab Lands, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques

As the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, the King holds the following ranks in the military:

• Field Marshal of the Royal Land Forces
• Admiral of the Fleet of the Royal Naval Force
• Marshal of the Air Force of the Royal Air Force

Domestic honors

• Grand Cordon of the Order of King Hussein
• Grand Cordon of the Order of King Faisal I
• Grand Cordon of the Order of Merit to the Hashemite Crown
• Army Merit Medal
• Syria Liberation Medal

Foreign honors

• China
  • Grand Cordon of the Order of Brilliant Jade
• Hasa
  • 1st Class of the Order of Hasa
• Iraq
  • Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Two Rivers
  • Levant War 1989 Victory Medal
• Japan:
  • Grand Cordon of the Order of the Chrysanthemum
• Mexico:
  • Collar of the Order of the Aztec Eagle
• Morocco:
  • Grand Cordon of the Order of Ouissam Alaouite
• Trucial States:
  • Collar of the Order of Zayed