Bahrain Mirror: "The New York Times" newspaper said that the rulers of Saudi Arabia are considering blaming a top intelligence official close to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, three people with knowledge of the Saudi plans said Thursday.

This top intelligence official is General Ahmed Al-Assiri, who previously served as the spokesman for the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen, the newspaper said.

The plan to assign blame to Al-Assiri, a high-ranking adviser to the crown prince, would be an extraordinary recognition of the magnitude of international backlash to hit the kingdom since the disappearance of Mr. Khashoggi.

Blaming General Assiri could also provide a plausible explanation for the apparent killing and help deflect blame from the crown prince, who American intelligence agencies are increasingly convinced was behind Mr. Khashoggi's disappearance.

Arabic Version