Saudi king sacks senior aide for photographer 'slap'

Riyadh - Saudi Arabia's King Salman sacked a senior aide on Tuesday, shortly after a video posted online appeared to show the official slapping a photojournalist, state media said.

Salman replaced the head of royal protocol Mohammed al-Tobayshi with Khalid al-Abbad, according to a decree published by the SPA official news agency.

In a video circulated on social media, Tobayshi appeared to slap one of the photographers covering the Saudi monarch's reception of Morocco's King Mohammed VI.

The swift decision was welcomed by Saudis on social networks.

"This is decisive Salman," wrote journalist Saud al-Murshid on his Twitter account, alluding to the Saudi-led military operation against Shiite rebels in Yemen, dubbed Operation Decisive Storm.