RIAD (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s 84-year-old king, Salman bin Abdulaziz, was admitted to a hospital in the capital, Riyadh, suffering from inflammation of the gallbladder, the state-run SPA news agency said on Monday.
The king, who has ruled the world’s largest oil exporter and a close ally of the US since 2015, is undergoing medical checks, the agency added, without giving details.
After the news, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi postponed a scheduled visit to Saudi Arabia, Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said.
King Salman, the custodian of Islam’s holiest sites, spent more than 2.5 years as a Saudi crown prince and deputy prime minister since June 2012 before becoming king. He also served as governor of the Riyadh region for more than 50 years.
The de facto ruler and next in line to the throne is Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, widely known as MbS, who has launched reforms to transform the kingdom’s economy and end his “addiction” to oil.
The 34-year-old prince, who is popular with many Saudi youths, has been praised at home for easing social restrictions in the conservative Muslim kingdom, giving women more rights, and pledging to diversify the economy.
For the king’s supporters, this boldness at home and abroad was a welcome change after decades of caution, stagnation, and hesitation.
But state control of the media and repression of dissent in the kingdom make it difficult to gauge the degree of internal enthusiasm.
The crown prince’s reforms have been accompanied by a purge of leading royalty and businessmen accused of corruption, and a costly war in Yemen, which has baffled some Western allies and investors.
His prestige also suffered a severe blow after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 at the hands of Saudi security personnel seen as close to him.
(This story is replenished to replace the headline)
Reports by Alaa Swilam in Cairo and Marwa Rasahd in Riyadh; Written by Marwa Rashad, Edited by Clarence Fernandez and Maha El Dahan
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