As efforts to distance Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman from the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi intensify, UAE Crown Prince Mohammad bin Zayed al-Nahyan’s chief hitman in the region Mohammad Dahlan is said to have been hospitalized in Dubai with “a broken neck,” following a brawl that broke out on a luxury yacht in the oil-rich emirate after Dahlan refused to become the new “scapegoat” for the consulate murder.
At the yacht party held in honour of bin Salman, Dahlan allegedly got an offer to be the main actor of the Khashoggi murder, and was badly beaten by a team in Dubai after he refused.
Mohammed Dahlan, the former security chief for the Palestinian Authority who is also known as the “hitman” of the Middle East, was the main mediator between the UAE government and an assassination squad in Yemen.
Khashoggi, a frequent contributor to The Washington Post, was killed on Oct. 2 inside the Consulate of Saudi Arabia in Istanbul.
Dahlan is said to have been taken to a private Dubai hospital immediately after the brawl on the yacht.
People close to Dahlan made statements saying he was receiving treatment following an accident which were retracted a few hours later.
A Saudi source told Yeni Şafak daily that Dahlan was hospitalized with a “broken neck” and that he was placed under heavy protection at the hospital with nobody allowed to visit him.
The source went on to say that this could be “only the beginning of several shocking development to come in the next few days.”
It is said that both the Saudi and Emirati crown prices have been working on a scenario with U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner that would implicate Dahlan in the Khashoggi murder, letting him take the fall for the consulate operation as a way to “put a lid on the case.”
Dahlan, who is of Palestinian origin, played an active role in assembling a “cover-up team” of four tasked with erasing all traces of the gruesome murder, according to an informed source who spoke to Yeni Şafak daily on the condition of anonymity.
The new version of events, which will be revealed in the coming days, and documents will surface, presenting Dahlan as the sole perpetrator of the Khashoggi murder, which will be the first step to exonerate Crown Prince bin Salman.
The CIA believes Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing of Khashoggi, sources familiar with the matter said, complicating President Donald Trump's efforts to preserve ties with a key U.S. ally.
The sources said the CIA had briefed other parts of the U.S. government, including Congress, on its assessment, which contradicts Saudi government assertions that Prince Mohammed was not involved.
A few names are in the running to replace Dahlan as the UAE prince’s chief hitman in the region is set to be sidelined.
UAE Crown Prince bin Zayed is said to be considering Palestinian Samir Mashharawi, who served for years in Fatah, as a replacement for Dahlan and had him flown to Dubai for this purpose.
An informed Palestinian source told Yeni Şafak dialy that a rift had opened between supporters of President Mahmoud Abbas and those close to Dahlan.
The source went on to say that Mashharawi will end up serving the same purpose as Dahlan, with the help of Fatah official Rashid Abu Shubbak.
