For the past month the younger brother of Saudi Arabia's King Salman, 76-year old Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz, has reportedly been positioned as the prime candidate to replace the increasingly embattled crown prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) after Prince Ahmed returned to the kingdom from self-imposed exile weeks ago. 

Now just days after the CIA issued its report saying the agency believes MbS ordered the Jamal Khashoggi killing, Reuters has revealed that MbS has even more reason to be nervous about political survival as his brothers are now publicly leaking they're ready for a replacement in the succession. Perhaps it's payback time for last year's Ritz Riyadh imprisonment? 

Reuters reports that "some members of Saudi Arabia's ruling family are agitating to prevent Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman from becoming king, three sources close to the royal court said." And Reuters has confirmed it's not a mere handful of angry princes who are prepared to make the case, but multiple dozens:

Dozens of princes and cousins from powerful branches of the Al Saud family want to see a change in the line of succession but would not act while King Salman - the crown prince's 82-year-old father - is still alive, the sources said. They recognize that the king is unlikely to turn against his favorite son, known in the West as MbS.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Prince Ahmed Abdulaziz (right), via the AFP

Enter Prince Ahmed, whose name has been increasingly floated in international press reports as an option amenable to the West — a consideration crucial to Saudi calculations. 

Prince Ahmed has reportedly for weeks been meeting with other members of the Saudi royal family living outside the kingdom, along with "figures inside the kingdom" who have encouraged him to usurp his nephew. He's long been an open critic of bin Salman (MBS), and for this reason had been in the West with security guarantees given by US and UK officials.

His name features prominently in the bombshell new Reuters report:

Rather, they are discussing the possibility with other family members that after the king's death, Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz, 76, a younger full brother of King Salman and uncle of the crown prince, could take the throne, according to the sources.

Prince Ahmed, King Salman's only surviving full brother, would have the support of family members, the security apparatus and some Western powers, one of the Saudi sources said.

Prince Ahmed, 76, has been living in the UK for several years after serving as Saudi Arabia's deputy minister of interior between 1975 - 2012, and briefly as minister of interior in 2012. Ahmed was seen as a potential candidate to succeed King Salman in the early 2000's, however he was sidelined in March 2014 amid one of several shakeups within the House of Saud. 

On November 4, 2017 MbS began arresting as many as 500 Saudi princes, government ministers and businessmen - detaining them in the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Riyadh. Private jets were grounded to prevent people from fleeing, while over 2,000 domestic bank accounts and other assets were frozen as the government targeted up to $800 billion in wealth that was reportedly "linked to corruption." 

Prince Ahmed was protected from the purge, as MbS was unable to touch any sons of King Abdulaziz, founder of the modern Saudi state.