[roadnottaken]

I think this case blew-up because the Saudi's were caught red-handed. Erdowan realized he could put extreme pressure on the Saudi's because his evidence was so strong. I think you're probably right that this sort of thing happens with some frequency, but you can only call foul if you have hard evidence which is much more rare.

[nyolfen]

it was a handful of factors: erdogan having strong evidence like you said and leaking it slowly to maximize impact, the fact that it was a journalist meaning journalists paid a great deal of attention to it, the fact that the details were almost like fiction, and the many people opposed to the atrocities in yemen/general opponents of the saudi regime using it as a convenient lever against mbs. there are probably a few more notable ones but those are the main currents as i see it.