King Salman bin Abdulaziz has also been governor of the Riyadh region for over 50 years.
RIYAD:
The 84-year-old Saudi leader, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, has been admitted to the hospital in the capital Riyadh, suffering from inflammation of the gallbladder, the state-run SPA news agency said on Monday.
The king, who had headed the world‘s largest oil exporter and a close ally of the United States since 2015, was under medical examination, the agency added, without giving details.
King Salman, the caretaker of the holiest sites in Islam, spent more than two and a half years as Saudi Crown Prince and Deputy Prime Minister in June 2012 before becoming king. He was also governor of the Riyadh region for over 50 years.
The de facto sovereign and closest to the throne is the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, widely known by his initials MBS, who launched reforms to transform the kingdom’s economy and end its “dependence” on oil.
The 34-year-old prince, popular with young Saudis, was praised at home for easing social restrictions in the conservative Muslim kingdom, granting more rights to women and promising to diversify the economy.
For supporters of the king, this audacity at home and abroad was a welcome change after decades of prudence, stagnation and procrastination.
But state control of the media and repression of dissent in the kingdom make it difficult to gauge the extent of domestic enthusiasm.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
