Who Sent Saudi Documents to WikiLeaks?
KABUL: (Middle East Press) Publishing more than half a million top-secret documents from Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry have gained so much media attention in recent days.
The released documents which indicate Saudi involvement in Regional Affairs and also its hostile policies towards Iran and Syria in addition to its allies have triggered a wave of concern & uncertainty in different countries.
The most important question of readers is this: who is theft of Saudi documents and what could be the purpose behind it?
The Saudi government and Ministry of Foreign Affairs formed a committee headed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef. They have opened an investigation to identify those responsible for releasing classified documents from the Saudi Arabia Foreign Ministry.
Analysts expressed very different views on leaked Saudi documents:
Although a group calling itself the Yemeni Cyber Army claimed the hacking but who sent them Saudi documents? We should accept that leaking top-secret documents was done by individuals from Saudi government and foreign ministry. A person or a group who have given advanced access to the documents to the Yemeni Cyber Army.
The second possibility is attributable to those countries which show “hostility” toward Saudi Arabia especially Iran, Syria and Iraq. WikiLeaks repeatedly released documents against these countries. This possibility is not feasible because Iran and Syria are not afraid to stand publicly against Riyadh.
A third possibility can be competitors of Saudi Arabia, particularly Qatar and Turkey. Qatar and Turkey are always ready for regional competition with Saudi Arabia so they are willing to spend a considerable amount of their political and financial resources to reach their goals.
The fourth possibility is Western and Israeli intelligence services that American & Israeli support of Saudi Arabia do not match with this possibility.
Russia and China is the fifth possibility. Betrayal of Saudi Arabia in oil prices coincided with EU’s sanctions against Russia over Ukraine crisis might make the Russians angry to do this action.
The sixth is likely to be combined with the prior possibilities. Power struggle in the house of Saud and King Salman’s unexpected actions for relieving Crown Prince Muqrin bin Abdulaziz and also Foreign Minister Saud bin Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of their positions after four decades of service, which can lead to settle accounts within the Saudi Arabia’s Royal Family and leaking documents, to put pressure on King Salman.
Top-secret documents may also leaked by the Royal Court of Saudi Arabia to remove competitors and usurp more power.
Saud al-Faisal’s dismissal and his unexpected death after releasing the documents and also received death threats for Khalid al-Tuwaijri, Talal bin Abdul Aziz and Ahmed bin Abdulaziz these days indicate bloody struggle for power within Royal family.
Hence, this possibility with the death of al-Tuwaijri and other competitors of Muhammad bin Salman will be much stronger than other possibilities. Mohammed bin Salman killed two birds with one stone by releasing classified documents from the Saudi Arabia Foreign Ministry. In one hand he would cover up his failure in Yemen and on the other hand he would pave the way for getting close to sitting on the Kingdom’s throne.
