King Salman of Saudi Arabia chaired a virtual cabinet meeting late Tuesday from the hospital where he was admitted the day before for gallbladder inflammation, the official SPA news agency reported. " The Council of Ministers held its (periodic) meeting by videoconference under the chairmanship of King Salman ben Abdel Aziz from his place of hospitalization, " SPA wrote.
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The Saudi ruler occasionally thanked " all those who inquired about his state of health, " the Saudi agency reported. The meeting was notably devoted to the preparations for the great pilgrimage which begins in Mecca on July 29, with this year a very limited number of pilgrims due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
One of the region's oldest rulers
King Salman, 84, was admitted to the King Faisal Specialized Hospital in Riyadh on Monday.The kingdom rarely communicates on the state of health of the monarch, who has ruled the country since 2015, the world's largest exporter of crude oil and more great Arab economy. Since the health crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Saudi ruler, one of the region's oldest leaders, has rarely appeared in public. But he continued to chair, by videoconference, the weekly meetings of the Council of Ministers.
During the reign of King Salman, Saudi Arabia launched post-oil economic reforms but also adopted a more assertive foreign policy and went to war against Yemeni rebels, backed by Iran. Saudi Arabia has faced a series of controversies since King Salman's son Mohammed was appointed crown prince in June 2017, especially after the October 2018 assassination of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
