The Saudi Arabian Civil War was a period of conflict between pro-Saud supporters and the anti-Saud militia. After the execution of Nimr Baqir al-Nimr, many Saudi Arabian civilians took to the streets of Riyadh to protest. However, revolutionary Azmi el-Fawaz took control of the movement and turning the protestants into revolutionaries in hopes of collapsing the Monarchy and reforming it.
Pre-civil war events[]
Execution of Nimr[]
Course of the civil war[]
Initial protests[]
Following the execution of Nimr, multiple protests took place in the Saudi capital of Riyadh and the surrounding region. Protesters, during this time, were peaceful and only small occurrences of violence took place. The United States provided help to Saudi Arabia, but the offer was rejected as King Salman stated "We can handle this ourselves." In terms of the protesters using violence, many would simply throw rocks and broken bottles at businesses in rebellion.
On September 22nd, لإاث آثص إثشقس ’شسسشؤقث (The New Year's Massacre) took place. 70 soldiers of the Saudi Arabian Army fired upon a crowd of 571 civilians on the Muslim New Year. The soldiers, ordered by Raamiz al-Hameed, were told to simply "disperse the crowd for celebration", however, when the protesters began throwing rocks, the soldiers began firing towards the crowd. Azmi el-Fawaz, a protester and revolutionary within the crowd, saw the corruption and filth that was the Saudi Arabian Army and government, and would use this massacre as a platform to rise as a de facto leader of what would be known as the anti-Saud militia.
The New Years Massacre would bring an end to any possible help from the United States, of which they continued to offer support until the incident took place.