Middle East: The recent regional developments and media campaigns reveal the collapse of Mohammed bin Salman's alliances and the betrayal of his closest allies, which reflects the Crown Prince's confusion and the failure of his bets.

Years ago, Mohammed bin Salman organized a four-party alliance with Emirati President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa, and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi.

This quadruple alliance in the Middle East has contributed in recent years to annihilating the dreams of peoples, arresting and killing thousands, and destroying countries, until the time has come today for the alliance to end, after the rupture of relations between them and the emergence of more than one point of contention in various issues.

As the past days witnessed mutual exchanges between the Egyptian and Saudi media and great pens, which revealed the extent of the dispute that afflicted the symbols of the two regimes.
Prior to that, the differences between bin Zayed and bin Salman had surfaced, giving clear indications of a crack in the corners of the evil triangle.

The Saudi Minister of Finance affirmed that “the time for unconditional financial aid is over,” in a clear reference to the Egyptian Sisi, who used to rely on Gulf aid and not return it.

This coincided with direct criticism by senior royal court writers, such as: Turki Al-Hamad and Khaled Al-Dakhil, who explicitly criticized the military rule and that it is the cause of the destruction of states.

The Egyptian media responded with the editor-in-chief of a government newspaper by describing the kingdom as “barefoot and naked.” The two countries’ regimes exchanged insults.

The Emirates entered the line directly, through the personal advisor of Mohammed bin Zayed (Abdul Khaleq Abdullah), who announced the end of the quadruple alliance between Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the Emirates and Bahrain.

In an attempt to hide the reality of the dispute or downplay it, Abd al-Khaliq Abdullah deleted his tweet, as well as Turki al-Hamad and Khaled al-Dakhil. Al-Sisi's media calmed down his intensity a bit. Rather, Sisi appeared himself speaking about the bonds of love between the brothers.

However, has the alliance of evil remained coherent, and can differences be resolved through media statements?!

Al-Sisi, for example, did not return tens of billions that he had taken as deposits. Rather, he was surprised by Riyadh’s demand to pay off old debts owed to the Saudi Aramco oil company years ago, which he considered a grant, according to the Middle East Monitor.

Although Sisi did not fulfill his dues to the Kingdom, he continued to demand more as a “right” in exchange for his role in fighting political Islam represented by the Brotherhood.

However, the Kingdom's new financial policy regarding grants and deposits angered him, and this may be behind the failure to hand over the islands of Sanafir and Tiran to the Kingdom, despite the existence of an agreement with an American guarantee!

And while the Kingdom wants to expand its so-called investment influence through direct investment and acquisition of state assets and property, this will reduce the gains of Egypt's military, who are intrusive in major projects, and may lead them to a clash with Sisi.

Regarding the dispute between Ibn Salman and Ibn Zayed, its repercussions were made public on more than one occasion, especially last year when the Kingdom suspended travel to and from the Emirates, and restricted the entry of Emirati goods into the Kingdom by laws tailored to the size of Emirati products.

Conflict of interests in OPEC + sparked deep disagreements, as the UAE publicly opposed the Kingdom's plans and its desire to monopolize the organization's decision for its political interests.

The UAE is seeking to compete with Saudi Arabia for the leadership of OPEC and to assume a role greater than the one given to it. The divergence of the two countries' positions on the aggression against Yemen contributed to the escalation of the conflict.

The UAE withdrew its forces from the coalition in 2019 (without prior warning) after it extended its influence over the rich regions of Yemen, and established loyal militias on the ground, leaving the kingdom alone to face the Yemeni army’s missiles and attacks!

The announcement of the formation of new military units in Yemen under the name “Shield of the Nation” (funded, supervised and armed by Saudi Arabia) is only a new step in the raging conflict between Ibn Salman and Ibn Zayed, and an attempt to rein in Ibn Zayed and his militias and reduce his influence in Yemen.

The relations with Iran also witnessed a divergence. At a time when negotiations between the Kingdom and Iran were faltering, the UAE searched for its own interests only and continued its commercial exchanges at the highest level. It also decided to open a new page in relations with Tehran, and visits were exchanged at the highest levels.

The regional headquarters dispute emerged, in which Riyadh asked major international companies to move their headquarters to Riyadh as a condition for conducting business in the Kingdom. The Kingdom also amended customs tariffs in free trade zones, and targeted goods produced in Israel, to compete with the economy of its neighbor.

It may be possible to avoid officially announcing the dissolution of the Quadruple Alliance of Evil with limited diplomatic statements and moves, but its crack is now clear!

The next stage will witness new alliances, the outlines of which were drawn by the Chinese-Gulf summit, which bin Zayed missed, and then bin Salman did not invite the Abu Dhabi consultative summit.

Quoted from Saudi Leaks website translated by Almasirah English website