A Tunisian blogger accused the United Arab Emirates of attempting to assassinate him in Tunisia. Rashid Al-Khayari, who is the owner of the Essada website, stated that the assassination attempt was carried out by people he described as intelligence agents at a hotel in Tunis.

Al-Khayari stated that an offer, with financial incentives, was made to change the editorial line of the site he supervises against the UAE or Saudi Arabia, especially Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

"I was surprised during the meeting with an Algerian agent who never spoke on the subject of the African channel branch. The man revealed during his meeting with me and my colleague in the site office that his arrival in Tunisia was for the sole reason that the Emiratis were very worried about the editorial line of the Essada website that exposes the practices of the Saudi and UAE regimes in the Arab region," Al-Khayari said, as reported by the Middle East Monitor. The alleged assignation attempt came as Saudi Arabia faces international outrage over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside its consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, 2018. It is widely seen as the worst diplomatic crisis facing the kingdom since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.