A former Saudi official has alleged that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman forged his father’s signature on the royal decree that launched the kingdom’s yearslong, stalemated war against Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

Saudi Arabia’s powerful 37-year-old crown prince will not attend an upcoming summit in Algeria after his doctors advised him not to travel.

A former senior Saudi security official who helped oversee joint counter-terrorism efforts with the U.S. claims the kingdom’s crown prince once spoke of killing a sitting Saudi monarch before his own father was crowned king.

DUBAI A former top Saudi counterterrorism official has filed a federal lawsuit in the United States against Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, alleging the royal tried to trap and kill him in the U.S. and Canada. Attempts by Saudi Arabia to forcibly return certain citizens who reside abroad began attracting global attention after the killing of Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed by Saudi agents who worked for the crown prince. The crown prince denies he had any knowledge of the operation, but Western intelligence agencies and the U.S. Senate have declared the prince ultimately responsible for Khashoggi's killing. Prince Mohammed bin Nayef had been the kingdom's feared interior minister and was crown prince before he was ousted from the line of succession and stripped of his powers in 2017 by Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whose father is king. Bader al-Asaker, a close confidante of the crown prince and secretary-general of MiSK, a non-profit founded by Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is also named.