When the first news of the attack in Mecca reached Riyadh, the initial reaction of King Khalid was to consult the ulama, in order to get permission to use military force to eject the attackers. The ulama hesitated and refrained from a definite answer. Only after the assault had been underway for 36 hours did some ulama allow the use of force. At the time of the event, Crown Prince Fahd was in Tunisia for a meeting of the Arab Summit and then commander of the National Guard Prince Abdullah was in Morocco for an official visit. Therefore, King Khalid assigned the responsibility to Prince Sultan, the minister of defense and Prince Nayef, the minister of interior, to deal with the incident.