Bin Salman is doing everything he can before the death of his father, the King, pressuring Allegiance Council members, and directs secret correspondence to the American administration, Israel, and Europe, as well as carrying out secret detention campaigns that targeted many officers in the security services, sources told Saudi Wikileaks.
The sources confirmed that the conditions inside the family are deteriorating while tension and anticipation prevail, as King Salman is not in good health, and Bin Salman is afraid of those who possess documents and secrets, and whose left of the family are subject to enormous pressures and threats.
A source close to the Royal Court stated that Mohammed bin Salman worked to push more officers and personalities loyal to him to issue preliminary decisions and directions for the next stage to send a threatening message to members of the pledge committee.
Bin Salman arrested dozens of military officers and government employees — who are expected to have angry reactions during the next stage — under the pretext of corruption.
He pointed out that officials affiliated with the Crown Prince are investigating their counterparts within the royal court on many important files.
The source confirmed that the crown prince did not visit his father until this moment in the hospital.
He also revealed that the American administration is monitoring the situation in the Kingdom, and is trying to supervise bin Salman’s plans to reach the throne.
The Royal Court announced that King Salman underwent laparoscopic surgery to remove the gallbladder this Thursday at King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh, and it has been successfully completed.
On the same day, the White House said that President Donald Trump and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman discussed the battle against the Coronavirus pandemic and revitalize international economies in a phone call.
A White House spokesman said the two leaders discussed regional and bilateral issues and that the crown prince “reaffirmed the strength of the defense partnership between the United States and Saudi Arabia,” according to Reuters.
However, the Saudi source confirmed that this contact was included discussing the situation inside the Kingdom and the royal court.
Simon Henderson director of the Bernstein Program on Gulf and Energy Policy at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy said that King Salaman may give up the throne for his favorite son, “Mohammed”, or make him a guardian of the throne.
Henderson wondered in article, entitled “Shifting sands in the House of Saud with a king’s declining health”, “Could MbS become regent during his father’s indisposition?” Then he said, “Yes, but it would require the father to declare this.”
“Could the king abdicate? Again, theoretically, yes, although it would be a new precedent. MbS likely does not want to find himself asking the senior princes who make up the so-called Allegiance Council for their approval, since some would not give it.
“All this makes for potentially great drama, even for this coronavirus era.
“The monarch is hospitalized in Riyadh, suffering from an inflamed gall bladder. That’s not normally life-threatening… but MbS is renowned for not wanting to waste an opportunity.”