In a report from Washington, the British Guardian newspaper said that the complete change of Saudi policy towards Syria by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in 2015 angered the Americans in the administration of former US President Barack Obama, and described the claim of bin Salman's approval of the Russian military intervention in Syria as a bomb.
The newspaper devoted its report to addressing the lawsuit filed by former Saudi intelligence official Saad Al-Jabri before the US judiciary against Mohammed bin Salman and others on charges of seeking to kill him.
She indicated that al-Jabri said that his transfer of the US administration’s anger from the CIA Director John Brennan to bin Salman in July and August 2015 “during two meetings with Brennan”, provoked bin Salman’s anger against him and assigned him his position as second. The most powerful intelligence position in the kingdom and his role as a liaison with the CIA.
Like a bomb
The report stated that the allegation that bin Salman had secretly invited Russia to intervene in Syria at a time when Bashar al-Assad was about to fall is considered as an explosive bomb, because Saudi Arabia was ostensibly supporting the armed Syrian opposition against Assad, and the Russian bombing of cities controlled by the opposition has since led To the killing of tens of thousands of Syrian civilians.
The report stated that the initiative to support the armed Syrian opposition came from the former Saudi crown prince, Muhammad bin Nayef and al-Jabri, with the support of the CIA.
She added that the "Riyadh Chamber" had achieved success in imposing some discipline and order on the Western Gulf support for the forces opposing the Syrian regime in 2014, but that success was dispelled in the spring and summer of 2015 with the rise of Muhammad bin Salman to the ladder of Saudi power.
Meet St. Petersburg
The report indicated that in June 2015, Mohammed bin Salman met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Saint Petersburg, and announced the conclusion of several cooperation agreements in oil and nuclear energy, but, according to al-Jabri, they discussed the entry of Russian forces into the Syrian war.
When the CIA heard of these discussions, Brennan asked Jabri to urgently meet in the Irish capital Dublin - roughly halfway between Washington and Riyadh - in July of that year to convey American anger. A source familiar with the two men's meetings said that America was sure that a final blow against Assad was imminent, and that bin Salman gave him the kiss of life.
The report quoted Al-Jabri as saying that when he conveyed the American anger to the Saudi National Security Council, Mohammed bin Salman was angry with him, and considered this a challenge to his authority, and from that moment on he began working to expel Jabri from his post on September 10, 2015, less than three years ago. Weeks of the start of the Russian raids on Syria.
Al-Jabri remained an advisor to Muhammad bin Nayef until he (i.e. Al-Jabri) left the kingdom permanently in May 2017, one month before his president bin Nawwaf was ousted from the Saudi era of the Covenant and Mohammed bin Salman was chosen in his place.
Bin Zayed convinced bin Salman
The report said that the Crown Prince of the Emirates, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, was the one who persuaded Mohammed bin Salman to seize the position of crown prince, and encouraged Moscow to intervene militarily in Syria, under the pretext that if Bashar al-Assad left power, the Muslim Brotherhood would succeed him, who are the most dangerous to governments in the Gulf. Bin Zayed looked.
The Guardian quoted a former Western diplomat in the Middle East as saying that to include the information Al-Jabri claims about bin Salman, Putin and the Russian intervention in Syria with the crucifixion of the lawsuit, Al-Jabri intended to send a message to bin Salman that he does not intend to back down even if his sons are arrested, and he has damaging information to bin Salman If these arrests continue.
However, although the allegations of collusion with Moscow harm the crown prince, most Western diplomats, the report says, are convinced that Russia would have entered the war in Syria without the secret encouragement of the Saudi and Emirati princes.
"I don't think Putin basically cared about what the Saudis and Emiratis want, but he certainly enjoyed their desire for the Russians to enter the war in Syria, because that was a heavy blow to America," the former Western diplomat said.