A former Saudi official says in a report that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman forged his father’s signature on a royal decree that launched the kingdom’s long-running war against Yemen’s Houthis.
Saudi Arabia did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the unsubstantiated allegations Saad al-Jabri made in an interview published by the BBC on Monday, although the kingdom described him as a “discredited former government official”.
Al-Jabri, a former Saudi intelligence official living in exile in Canada, has been in a years-long dispute with the kingdom since his two children were imprisoned in what he describes as an attempt to lure him back to Saudi Arabia.
The accusation comes as Prince Mohammed now serves as Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader, often meeting leaders in place of his father, 88-year-old King Salman. His assertive behavior, particularly at the start of his rise to power around the start of the war in Yemen in 2015, has extended to a broader crushing of any perceived dissent or power base that might challenge his rule.
In al-Jabri’s remarks to the BBC, he said a “credible, reliable” official linked to the Saudi Interior Ministry had confirmed to him that Prince Mohammed had signed the royal decree declaring war in place of his father.
“We were surprised that there is a royal decree allowing ground interventions. He forged his father’s signature for that royal decree. The king’s mental capacity was deteriorating,” Al-Jabri said.
Al-Jabri’s United States (U.S.)-based lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The war against the Hutus, launched with the prince’s promises that it would be over quickly, has been going on for almost a decade. The war killed more than 150,000 people and created one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters, killing tens of thousands more. Prince Mohammed was the Minister of Defense at the time.
The Houthis have also launched attacks on ships since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, disrupting traffic through the Red Sea — and leading to the most intense combat the U.S. Navy has faced since World War II, Klix.ba writes.
E.Dz.
