The Sultan Cabos, who passed away last night, left no children behind • In accordance with the practice, senior royal family members decided on the heir's identity: his cousin, Heitham ben Tareq

Sultan Oman Qabus al-Said, who passed away Friday night at the age of 79, left no children. Although he married his niece Camila in 1976, he divorced her even before they had children.

As a result, the Omani Constitution states that the decision must be passed to a committee of senior members of the royal family sitting in Muscat. At the same time, the Constitution states that "the Sultan must be a member of the royal family, Muslim, mature, rational and the son of Omani Muslim parents." Already on Saturday morning, the Al Sa'id family has chosen who meets all the conditions: Sultan Kavos' cousin - Minister of Culture and Heritage, Haytham Ben Tarek, for the new Sultan.

Haytham overcame other candidates, including his brother - Assad, Deputy Prime Minister for International Relations and Cooperation; Vashyab - Former Navy commander. Other candidates were another cousin - Fahad bin Mahmoud, and nephew of the new sultan, Taimur bin Assad.

By electing for the role of the Sultan, Heatham was given the positions of Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, Minister of Defense, Supreme Commander of the Army and Finance Minister. The new Sultan has already pledged to pursue his predecessor policy in the post, Kabos, which is known as a policy of coexistence, peace, and maintaining friendly relations with all countries. "We will continue on the path of Sultan Kavos towards the future," Heatham added. Like his predecessor, 65-year-old Haytham studied in the United Kingdom - under the Oxford University Foreign Service program, which he graduated with in 1979.

He is also famous as a sports enthusiast, and even served as the head of the first Oman football association. In his previous positions, he served as Deputy Foreign Minister from 1994 to 1986, as Secretary-General of Oman's Foreign Ministry from 2002 to 1994, and as Minister of Culture and National Heritage in recent years.

He is known for his excellent relations with various countries thanks to the many missions he performed under Sultan Kavos out of state, as well as Oman himself - such as the welcome to British Prince Charles and his wife Camila during their visit to Oman in 2016.

Already in the near future, Sultan Heatham will have to prove himself in many areas of the country's 5 million inhabitants. First and foremost, his foreign policy will be examined in the face of the direct conflict between Washington and Tehran, as well as the general tension in the Persian Gulf that led to the establishment of the Sailing Defense Coalition, in which Israel is also a member. In this context, his relationship with Jerusalem will also be examined soon.

At the governing level, he will have to choose whether to follow Kabos's path that included high-level control, which did not suppress without special difficulties during the "Arab Spring" era, or that he aspires to pluralism in Oman. Finally, at the economic level, it will have to find solutions to increase government debt. In the ranking of global oil reserves, Oman is in 22nd place, but due to the high expenditure on oil and gas production, security and other issues, the debt-to-GDP ratio is leaking - which the Sultan Heatham would have to pay attention to.