It has been one year since Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman ascended the throne. It is a short period in the life of nations, however, it has carried with it winds of change at the local and regional levels. It also strengthened the Kingdom’s position as a tough player and decision maker who couldn’t be easily trespassed or ignored. Many analysts had predicted that the new rule will face insurmountable challenges, but the new leadership has proven that determination makes miracles if men have enough will and insight.

It was clear from the very initial days that the king would show no leniency to corrupt officials, the defeatists and the opportunists who would not hesitate to make personal gains even at the expense of the country.

King Salman was not a stranger to the world. In fact he had assumed leading positions in various administrations. When he was the governor of Riyadh, he made it one of the most beautiful capitals of the world. He was humane in his dealings with his people. At the personal level, he is a phenomenon as far as fighting corruption is concerned.

At the regional level, King Salman has worked to put the GCC back on track to enable it to effectively play its role as an integrated organization that looks after the interests of its member countries and coordinates its policies and achieves aspirations of the people of the region.

The first challenge facing the new administration was the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen who took over the neighboring country by force. King Salman knew that these rebels couldn’t dare to defy the legitimate government without the support of the adventurous Iranian government. After trying every possible step to resolve the conflict peacefully, the Kingdom’s leadership found no other alternative but to nip this threat in the bud by launching a military operation with the help of an Arab coalition. As a result of this wise move, the march of the Houthis has been effectively halted.

At the international level, the Kingdom’s leadership had its differences with the US administration regarding Iran’s controversial nuclear program. Its message was loud and clear: If Iran was allowed to continue its program; Saudi Arabia would make every possible effort to possess military capabilities to deter this threat.

The other challenge that the new leadership had to deal with was the Syrian crisis where Iran and Hezbollah are fighting to defend Assad’s regime. The Kingdom was unhappy with the US administration’s attitude since the outbreak of the Syrian crisis. It also saw that Iran was making use of the reluctant US policy to spread its influence in the region and to ultimately threaten security of the Gulf countries.

All these interventions in Syria, Iraq, Bahrain, Lebanon and Yemen were enough to show that the Iranian ambitions know no limits. So, the Kingdom has worked with some regional players, like Turkey, to counter the Iranian threat and find out a solution to the Syrian conflict. To this effect, Saudi Arabia hosted a conference of major Syrian opposition factions to agree on a unified stand.

To bring back the beautiful and true image of Islam that has been distorted by terrorist organizations that are mushrooming in the region under different trademarks, the Saudi leadership has formed a coalition of 34 Muslim countries to counter terrorism by all means.

These are but few achievements of King Salman during the first year of his reign. With steadfastness, determination and resolve he has succeeded in establishing the Saudi role as a major power and guardian of the two holy mosques and a strong anti-terrorism fighter. We hope to see more of such achievements in the years to come.