Thamir bin Sabhan Al-Sabhan is the new ambassador to Baghdad. Saudi Arabia is appointing a residential ambassador in Iraq after a break of 24 years. It closed its embassy in Baghdad in 1991 after Saddam Hussein’s regime invaded Kuwait.

Relations between Saudi Arabia and Iraq have improved markedly since Haider Al-Abadi took over as prime minister in September 2014. Al-Sabhan is a former Saudi military attaché to Lebanon. Abdullah bin Marzouk Al-Zahrani is the new Saudi ambassador to Pakistan while Abdullah bin Hajjaj Al-Mutairy is the ambassador to Bangladesh.

Munir bin Ibrahim Bunjabi has been appointed ambassador to Peru, Fahd bin Abdullah Al-Sufyan to Nigeria and Sulaiman bin Saleh Al-Fareeh to Guinea.

Other new ambassadors who met with King Salman on Tuesday were: Eid bin Mohammed Al-Thaqafi (Oman), Khaled bin Musaed Al-Anqari (Austria), Ahmed bin Younus Al-Barrak (Japan) and Hani bin Abdullah Mumina (Bosnia-Herzegovina).