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  • Saudi Prince
    This tweet that appeared on Prince Alwaleed Talal's Twitter account was deleted.null
  • Yemen: See the devastating aftermath Saudi airstrike in Sanaa
    The site of an air strike in Yemennull

Saudi Arabia's billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal posted a controversial tweet promising to reward Bentley cars to 100 fighter pilots, who conducted airstrikes in Yemen, drawing sharp criticism on Twitter. 

Saudi Arabia had led coalition airstrikes in Yemen over four weeks against the Houthi rebels. Nearly 1000 people have been killed in the airstrikes, with many civilian deaths reported.

"I congratulate our wise leaders on the victory of Operation Decisive Storm and the beginning of Operation Restoring Hope. To recognise the one hundred participating Saudi pilots I am pleased to present them with 100 Bentley cars," a tweet on bin Talal's official account appeared on Tuesday, but was soon deleted. 

Prince Talal's offer did not go down too well with netizens, especially Yemenis, though many in Saudi Arabia apparently backed the decision. 

"So that's what it's all about, what was it 100 or 200 lives for a Bentley, that's how cheap human life is," a tweet critical of the offer read.

Prince bin Talal, a member of the Saudi royal family, is one of the richest men in the world and also owns a $300m stake in Twitter. 

Prince Talal is the grandson of  Saudi Arabia's founder King Abdulaziz and owns the kingdom's largest companies, Kingdom Holdings. 

He is known for his offers of luxury cars to people who please him, and had offered 25 Bentleys to a local soccer team that won the Saudi championship last year.

While some Saudi media have said that Prince Talal's Twitter account was hacked, he has not made any such statement to the media or on his social media account.

Here are some of the Twitter reactions to the Prince's offer of luxury cars to bombers: 

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