Walid bin Abdullah Bukhari, Saudi ambassador to Lebanon

Saudi Ambassador Walid bin Abdullah Bukhari
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Updated 09 August 2020
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Walid bin Abdullah Bukhari, Saudi ambassador to Lebanon

Saudi Arabia has stepped up its relief efforts in Lebanon following the deadly explosions in Beirut.

Saudi Ambassador Walid bin Abdullah Bukhari said the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center began organizing emergency aid immediately after the incident.

Bukhari has been the Saudi envoy to Lebanon since December 2018. He previously served as charge d’affaires at the embassy from March 2018 until his current appointment.

Bukhari obtained a bachelor’s degree in political science with distinction at the King Abdul Aziz University in 1995.

He obtained a higher diploma in diplomatic studies at the Institute of Diplomatic Studies in Riyadh in 2000, and a master’s in international politics from California State University, Fullerton.

He joined the Saudi diplomatic corps in 1996. In 1999, he was appointed deputy head of the mission of the Kingdom’s embassy in Niger.

Bukhari served as the consul general in Los Angeles from 2002 to 2006. In 2007, he was appointed to the office of the undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He became director of total quality management in 2009.

In 2013, he was assigned a role at the Saudi Embassy in Berlin. He was appointed assistant director general of planning and development at the ministry in 2016. He also served as the director general of diplomatic affairs and protocol and deputy undersecretary for protocol affairs in 2017.


Saudi air defenses destroy 3 ballistic missiles, 4 drones 

Updated 39 min 10 sec ago
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Saudi air defenses destroy 3 ballistic missiles, 4 drones 

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia's air defenses on Monday have shot down at least three ballistic missiles and four drones that have entered the Kingdom's airspace at past midnight, the Ministry of Defense said.

In a series of posts on X, the ministry said three ballistic missiles launched toward Prince Sultan Air Base in Al-Kharj were intercepted and destroyed. 

Two drones were shot down in the northern part of the national capital, Riyadh city, another one aimed at the Shaybah oil field was intercepted in the Empty Quarter desert, and another one was destroyed in the northern province of Al-Jouf.

Monday's early waves of strikes in the Kingdom and other Gulf states seem to follow a pattern, with Iran launching missiles and drones in waves starting at midnight, continuing relentlessly until late in the day.

Saudi Arabia's air defenses had successfully intercepted and destroyed multiple numbers of missile and drones in the past days. Most of the missiles are aimed at the Prince Sultan Air Base, while many of the drones were targeted at the Shaybah field.

Video footage posted by the Ministry of Defense on X on Sunday showed some of the enemy drones being neutralized.

On Sunday, however, two people were reported killed and 12 injured after a projectile fell on a residential area in Al-Kharj governorate, where the Prince Sultan Air Base is located.

An official spokesman for the Saudi Civil Defense said that the two deceased were Indian and Bangladeshi nationals, while the dozen injured were all Bangladeshi residents. The victims were employees of a maintenance and cleaning company in the area.