SAUDI ARABIA: Khashoggi report blames MBS and US imposes travel ban on 76 Saudis

GULF COUNTRIES - In Brief 26 Feb 2021 by Justin Alexander
The declassified summary of the US National Intelligence report is very brief (500 words). It states “we assess” that MBS approved an operation “to capture or kill” Jamal Khashoggi based on: "His control of decision making in the Kingdom;The direct involvement of a key adviser and members of Muhammad bin Salman's protective detail in the operation;The Crown Prince's support for using violent measures to silence dissidents abroad." No detail is provided of underlying evidence use to make this, some of which has been previously reported in the media such as intercepted phone calls (WP) or the use by the hit team of a Skyprime Aviation jet, which was one of the assets seized as a result of MBS’s Ritz “anti-corruption” purge (Hill). It will take some time to see what this all means for US-Saudi relations. The lack of detail, which seems to be less than had been expected, somewhat mutes its impact. Moreover, it does not say that the intention was definitively to kill him, so this does not overturn the Saudi narrative that it was a rendition operation but the team deployed decided to kill him of their own accord without consultation (and have now been suitably tired and sentenced under Saudi law... and had their sentences reduced due to clemency from the Khashoggi family). So far the US government's responses to to the report include:Anthony Blinken announced a new visa restriction policy, to be called the "Khashoggi Ban" that allows the State Department to impose visa restrictions on individuals who are believed to have "directly engage in serious, extraterritorial counter-dissident activities" and is imposing a travel ban under it on 76 Saudis (DoS). It was not specified w...

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