A/HRC/45/CRP.7 Annex I Mapping of the Main Actors642 A. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 1. In March 2015, Saudi Arabia formed a coalition with Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar643, Morocco644, Senegal, the Sudan and the United Arab Emirates to initiate military action at the request of President Hadi. The United States and the United Kingdom, among other States, advise and support the coalition. On 25 March 2015, Saudi Arabia announced “Operation Decisive Storm” and launched an air campaign against areas controlled by the Houthis. After 28 days it announced the end of Decisive Storm operations and the achievement of its goals. It then announced the start of “Operation Restoring Hope”, in which the coalition’s land, sea and air operations have continued to the present time. 2. Established in Riyadh, the Joint Forces Command of the coalition has a military structure like other organizational military structures. According to the coalition, establishing the Joint Forces command took into consideration international rules, and all land, naval and air operations are under its command. 3. In the second half of 2019, the coalition underwent major changes as the United Arab Emirates and the Sudan withdrew most of their land forces from their areas of responsibility, which placed an increased burden on Saudi Arabia and the Yemeni government. This withdrawal led to major setbacks for the coalition on the fronts of Sa’ada, Al-Jawf and Ma’rib, in which the Yemeni forces are under the operational control of the coalition leadership, represented in Saudi Arabia. The main actors are as follows: Serial Name Position Remarks 1 Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman Minister of Defence 23 January 2015 Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 27 February 2018 Joint Forces Commander Coalition Commander 27 February 2018 – 31 August 2020646 ‫االمير محمد بن سلمان‬ 2 General Fayyadh al-Ruwaili645 ‫فريق اول ركن فياض بن حامد الرويلي‬ 3 Prince Lieutenant General Fahad bin Turki bin Abdalazeez ‫االمير فريق ركن فهد بن تركي بن عبدالعزيز‬ 642 645 646 112 This annex represents the main actors in Yemen during the reporting period, and is separate and distinct from the strictly confidential list of alleged perpetrators that is provided to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. 643 In 2017, Qatar withdrew from the coalition. 644 In February 2019, Morocco withdrew from the coalition. Replaced General Abdulrahman bin Saleh al-Bunyan who had this post since 2014. See: https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=1729621. On 31 August 2020, Service of Lieutenant General Fahad is terminated by referring him to retirement and referring him to investigation and replaced by Lieutenant General Mutlaq bin Salim bin Mutlaq Al-Azima, Deputy Chief of the General Staff, as Acting Commander of the Joint Forces. See: https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2127629.