Crown Prince Abdullah implicated in Murder plot of his own brother

[Guest guest]

Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah implicated in Murder plot of his own Brother and

King

 

According to our sources, the Egyptian ruler solicited support for

his decision in all those visits.

Mubarak's stance has sharpened the divisions in the Arab world and

heightened instabilities in at least one capital

Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Syria now lead the opponents of an American

military move against Saddam Hussein;

Jordan, Kuwait and Qatar head the proponents.

A. This realignment drops in the middle of a long festering dispute

at the top level of the House of Saud. Fresh rumors picked up by

DEBKAfile's Gulf sources speak of a failed attempt on the life of

the ailing king Fahd in Jeddah, on or around July 14, shortly before

he departed for his summer vacation in Geneva. This incident added

fuel to the running feud between the Sudeiri faction of the royal

house, led by Fahd and his full brother, defense minister Prince

Sultan (the leading contender for the succession against Abdullah

and father of the Saudi ambassador to Washington, Prince Bandar),

and the group led by their half-brother, the regent Abdullah.

B. Riyadh now shows an angry face to the Gulf Emirates siding with

US action against Baghdad. The Saudis have stopped attending Gulf

Security Cooperation Council meetings, refusing to sit at the same

table as rulers they look down on as American collaborators. Saudi-

Qatari ties have been effectively severed, with Qatari notables no

longer welcome in the oil kingdom, while Saudi relations with Kuwait

have likewise soured.

C. On the flip side of the coin, Jordanian military and businessmen

are suddenly welcome in Kuwait for the first time since the 1991

Gulf War when Jordan sided with Iraq. Jordan and Qatar have also

struck up a warm friendship.

The report of an attempt to murder King Fahd is the talk of the

moment in the Gulf. It is claimed that on July 14, the monarch's

bodyguard fought off a band of 5 to 7 intruders, who gained entry to

the palace courtyard in Jeddah through one of the main gates after

setting off a large explosive charge. Three of the would be

assassins were killed; the rest fled when armed reinforcements

poured in from neighboring princely palaces, together with a

contingent of the special Saudi counter-terror force. The bodies

were identified as Saudi members of al Qaeda who fought in

Afghanistan, escaped through Iran and arrived home last January. The

identity of one of the dead assailants seriously heated factional

tempers in the royal family; he is said to have been a member of the

Wahhabist Uteiba tribe, loyal adherents of crown prince Abdullah.

For some months, the Sudeiri princes have warned Abdullah that his

permissive policy toward returning al Qaeda fighters - and the

lavish living allowances awarded them from religious institutions

and charities - would lead to trouble in the kingdom. Some have

hired out as bodyguards protecting the princes of Abdullah's

faction, religious leaders and tribal chiefs in the Jeddah district.

Sudeiri prince Salman, governor of the Riyadh region, was fiercest

in his criticism. He warned Abdullah that by making Saudi

intelligence and security services grant the returning terrorists

clearances as bodyguards for official personalities, he was

effectively opening the door to al Qaeda's penetration of the

national security agencies.

The nub of the argument, according to DEBKAfile's Saudi experts, is

that while the Sudeiris perceive Abdullah's patronage of al Qaeda

veterans as a major threat to their own security, the crown prince

believes he is taking out insurance for his regime's survival.

The differences between the two factions appear to be

irreconcilable. They have brought King Fahd out of semi-retirement

and induced him to return to political life. Visitors at the palace

in Geneva report that, while confined to a wheel chair, the king

looks brighter and more alert than he has been for a long time.

Among his Arab visitors this week were Mubarak and King Abdullah of

Jordan, both of whom congratulated him on his safe escape. On

Saturday, July 27, the Saudi king had two secret visitors from his

Sudeiri clan: Prince Salman and deputy defense minister Abdul

Rahman, the strongman of the military establishment.

This unfolding showdown in the oil kingdom has not been lost on

President George W. Bush in Washington. Confronted with crown prince

Abdullah's flat refusal to participate in the US offensive against

Iraq or allow its use of Saudi bases (as reported repeatedly in

DEBKA-Net-Weekly in recent issues) , the Bush administration has

turned back with a will to America's traditional allies in Riyadh,

the Sudeiri princes, favoring them against Abdullah's sternly

Islamist camp. The standoff between the two has yet to be resolved.

It also has a Palestinian offshoot.

Despite the clear anti-American, pro-al Qaeda stance adopted by the

Saudi crown prince, some Israeli political circles are echoing the

view current in some West European capitals that Abdullah's peace

initiative is still alive and the Saudis are working for a ceasefire

with the Palestinian Tanzim, the Hamas and the Jihad Islami. Some

European publications have even run an upside down picture of the

reality in Riyadh, labeling Abdullah as the leader of the pro-

American faction in the Saudi royal family, and Sultan and his

brothers as the sponsors of al Qaeda.

To keep the record straight amid a welter of misinformation,

DEBKAfile 's Palestinian sources reiterate that no Saudis are

involved in Palestinian issues at the moment – certainly not in any

attempts to broker a ceasefire. They are far too busy with the

trouble in their own house.

______