Saudi Crown Prince and U.A.E. Heir Forge Pivotal Ties
A desert camping trip helped cement a friendship seen as central to a shift in Saudi policies
The heirs to the throne in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates hardly knew each other until they enjoyed a beloved Gulf pastime together—an overnight camping trip in the vast Saudi desert, accompanied by trained falcons and a small entourage.
The outing about a year and a half ago, equivalent to a round of presidential golf, was a turning point in the burgeoning friendship between Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the son of the Saudi king, and Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, the Emirati crown prince, according to people familiar with the excursion.
Oil-rich and ultraconservative Saudi Arabia is aligning its policies with its smaller and more liberal and economically-diverse neighbor. And the relationship between the two princes, widely known by their initials as MBS and MBZ, is being seen as central to the Saudi shift.
The Saudis are taking bolder steps to curb religious extremism at home and toughening their stance toward Islamist groups abroad, something the U.A.E. has long advocated.
Saudi Arabia is also embracing a more aggressive foreign policy, most recently by leading efforts with the U.A.E. to impose an embargo on Qatar, another small Gulf neighbor. Qatar has supported Islamist groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Hamas in the Gaza Strip and maintained ties to extremist groups, drawing the U.A.E.’s ire.
“MBS and MBZ have created this situation,” Andreas Krieg, a former adviser to Qatar’s government and a Gulf expert at King’s College, London, said of the embargo crisis.
Until recently, he said, the Saudi prince got on well with Qatar’s ruling emir. “But because Qatar and the U.A.E. are 180 degrees apart from each other, Saudi Arabia had to make a choice,” Mr. Krieg said.
The Saudi leadership was divided over how to handle Qatar, according to several people close to the royal court. Saudi and U.A.E. officials said the decision on Qatar was made jointly. The Saudi royal court didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The growing alignment between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi has far-reaching implications for the region and for the U.S. The Trump administration has taken a hard line against Iran and welcomed closer cooperation with Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. against their common rival.
At the same time, the more aggressive Saudi-U.A.E. posture poses challenges for Washington. The Trump administration is spearheading efforts to resolve their feud with Qatar, which is home to America’s largest military base in the Middle East and used by aircraft involved in fighting Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
The U.A.E. sees a stable and moderate Saudi Arabia as a top national-security priority largely because of its position as the birthplace of Islam, say people close to the Emirati leadership. Saudi Arabia and its fellow regional powerhouse Egypt influence the Muslim world far beyond their borders.
“They are the two centers of gravity for Islam. If they are not moderate, we could lose Islam to more radical Islamic ideologies,” said a senior Emirati official. “For us to protect Islam, Saudi Arabia and Egypt need to succeed.”
The Emirati leadership sees Mohammed bin Salman as the best bet to prevent instability in Saudi Arabia, say the people close to the U.A.E. leadership. Mohammed bin Salman, who is 31, ascended rapidly through the Saudi leadership after his father became king in early 2015, taking over the defense and economic portfolios. In June, he was named crown prince.
Mohammed bin Zayed, who is 56 and his country’s effective ruler, helped orchestrate President Donald Trump’s trip to Saudi Arabia in May and he and other senior Emirati officials played a key role in lobbying the new U.S. administration in favor of Mohammed bin Salman, say people familiar with the relationship.
“Mohammed bin Zayed sees in Mohammed bin Salman someone who is a modernizer and who understands the importance of Saudi Arabia in the world,” said one of the people close to the Emirati leadership.
Mohammed bin Salman is spearheading an ambitious program aimed at overhauling Saudi Arabia’s economy, ending its dependence on oil and gradually opening up Saudi society.
The kingdom has looked to the U.A.E. for guidance on issues ranging from how to develop an indigenous defense industry to overhauling its sovereign-wealth fund, say people close to the leadership of both countries.
The U.A.E. unveiled a similar plan to diversify its economy a decade ago, and Saudi Arabia turned to some of the same banks and consultancy firms for assistance in formulating the Saudi plan.
The Emirati city of Dubai, which has little oil of its own, in recent decades transformed itself into a regional trade and tourism hub.
Saudi Arabia now wants to develop its own tourism industry. On Tuesday, the kingdom announced plans to develop its Red Sea coastline and some 50 islands into a sprawling tourist site, which foreigners of most nationalities could eventually visit visa-free. In a country that currently doesn’t even issue tourist visas, the project would mark an unprecedented opening to foreign visitors.
The ties between Mohammed bin Salman and Mohammed bin Zayed represent “a new dynamic that is really reshaping the region, not just now but also in the future,” said Danny E. Sebright, a former U.S. Defense Department official and president of the U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council.