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THE PLOT TO TOPPLE
SAUDI
MONARCHY
A plot against Saudi Arabia's royal family was narrowly thwarted in late 1979-by an apparent
stroke offortune. The conspiracy to undermine Saudi Arabia is far from dead. At stake-one of
the last bulwarks against Soviet expansionism in the Middle East.
A
DAWN
last November 20-
he first day of the Moslem
year 1400-50 men arrived
at the Grand Mosque in Mecca bear–
ing coffins. The sight did not attract
undue attention. Mourners often
bring bodies lO the mosque lo pray
over.
The 50 men were gradually joined
by another 450, dressed as religious
pilgrims. As morning prayers ended,
sorne of the group threw open the
coffins-and pulled out weapons.
Others hurriedly locked the mosque's
48 doors according to their well–
planned timetable.
Guards were cut down in the ensu–
ing gunfire. Hundreds of hostages
were taken. The Grand Mosque–
Jslam's holiest shrine- was cap–
tured!
Eyewi tnesses report tha t the intrud–
ers quickly fanned out through the
huge mosque. They began closely
examining the faces of the imprisoned
worshipers. But their frantic search–
ings failed to uncover the object of
their quest. For earlier that morning
the person they had hoped to find had
awakened with a sore throat- and
decided to rema in at home.
Had he not at the last minute
canceled his scheduled appearance
because of illness, His Royal High–
ness King Khalid would probably not
be alive today!
" Ring of Terror"
At the same instant that the 500
intruders were storming the Grand
Mosque in Mecca, a smaller band
18
by
Keith W. Stump
was launching a similar attack on
the mosque in Medina, more than
200 miles to the north. The Medina
mosque is second only to the Grand
Mosque as a holy place to Moslems.
It was Jater to be revealed that both
aclions were part of the same overall
master plan.
Both attempts were ultimately put
down by Saudi national guardsmen.
At final count, 300 of the Mecca
extremists were killed. The rest were
captured and later beheaded for sac–
rilege.
The coordinated assaults on the
two holy mosques were part of a
planned general uprising in Saudi
Arabia aimed directly at King Khal–
id and the Saudi royal family. That is
the story now emerging from a study
of scores of hours of interrogation of
the captured insurgents.
Their bold objective-to take King
Khalid hostage and make three
demands: 1) the establishment of a
puritanical lslamic republic in Saudi
Arabia, similar to that now in power
in Iran; 2) a cutback in Saudi oil
production; and 3} a loosening of
Saudi ties with the West.
The plot was tbwarted- for the
moment. But the threat to the Saudi
royal family remains ever present.
Rumors abound of an international
Moslem "ring of terror"- with ma–
jor-power support-directed against
the stability of Saudi Arabia.
Target -Saudl Royal Famlly
The stability of Saudi Arabia rests
upon loyalty to the Saud family.
Undermine that loyalty and Saudi
Arabia could well disintegrate into
chaos.
Loyalty has been a key theme of
Saudi history, ever since Bedouin
chief Abd al-Aziz Al Saud (popular–
ly known as Ibn Saud) began his rise
to power in 1901.
In that year, lbn Saud set out from
exile in Kuwait to conquer the vast
deserts of Nejd, tbe central portien of
the Arabian Península. His ancestors
- a prominent Bedouin dynasty de–
scended from Ishmael, son of the
biblical pat riarch Abraham-had
ruled over tbat area in times past.
Ibn Saud was barely 21 when he
began his campaign. With him were
but 40 fiercely Joya! men on horse–
back.
Triumphing over almost impossi–
ble odds, lbn Saud soon succeeded in
subduing rival tribes and restoring
the rule of his dynasty in Riyadh, the
desert oasis that became his capital.
His popularity and following in–
creased each year as tribal sheikhs,
one after another, declared alle–
giance to him.
By 1925, he had conquered all of
the Hejaz region on Arabia's west
coast-including the holy cities of
Mecca and Medina. In 1926 he was
proclaimed "King of the Hejaz, Nejd
and its Dependencies." Six years
later he renamed bis kingdom
Saudi
Arabia.
His vast desert realm encom–
passed an area the size of the United
States east of the Mississippi!
Early in his rule, Ibn Saud struck a
deal with the leader of the ultra-
The PLAIN TAUTH