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On Monday, Saudi Arabia announced a reshuffling that has seen some of its top military officers replaced, younger generation elevated to top positions and a woman brought into a senior government job. This moves has further tightened Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's grip on power.

The military officers removed includes the military chief of staff, air defense, and land forces heads and senior defense and interior ministry officials. This has led to Tamadur bint Youssef al-Ramah becoming the deputy labour minister, a rare high-level job for a woman in the deeply conservative kingdom.

These personnel changes were decreed by King Salman and published in state media and the decrees also included adoption of a new strategy to restructure the defense ministry for improved organization and governance. No reason for the changes was given.

Crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, who also serves as defense minister and heir apparent, promised reforms that will gradually fade Saudi Arabia's dependence on oil exports, create jobs, and open up Saudis' cloistered lifestyles. Social restrictions has been relaxed and the role of religious police and permitting public concerts also scaled back. 

This overhaul, which is the most recent in a series of relaxed laws and restrictions, has become something of a trademark of crown prince Mohammed's approach to ruling a youthful Saudi Arabia.

The government had last year, announced plans to allow women to drive this year, and said the consent of a male relative will no longer be needed for women to open their own businesses, a step away from the kingdom's guardianship system.

Last month, a senior Saudi cleric said that women need not wear the abaya — the loose-fitting, full-length robe symbolic of religious faith while a prominent sheikh said that celebrating Valentine's Day did not contradict Islamic teachings, defying the religious police's hardline position.