Saudi Arabia's King Salman, 84, left hospital on Thursday after spending 10 days there undergoing gallbladder removal, authorities and state media said. " The Guardian of the two Holy Mosques, King Salman, leaving the hospital where God has given him health and well-being, " the official media wrote in caption under photos showing him leaving the building.
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The Foreign Ministry has meanwhile posted a video on Twitter in which the king is seen leaving the hospital, walking with a cane and accompanied by a procession in which is his son, Crown Prince Mohammed ben Salman. A week ago, the royal cabinet announced that the monarch had undergone a laparoscopic operation to remove his gallbladder at the King Faisal hospital in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia rarely communicates on the state of health of the monarch who has ruled the kingdom since 2015, the world's largest exporter of crude oil and the largest economy in the Arab world.
Since the onset of 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. His hospitalization prompted the postponement of a visit to Riyadh by Iraqi Prime Minister Moustafa al-Kazimi.
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Under the reign of King Salman, the ultraconservative kingdom which applies a rigorous version of Islam initiated economic reforms for the post-oil era. He also opted for a more assertive foreign policy and went to war against Yemeni rebels, backed by Iran, his regional rival. Saudi Arabia has faced a series of controversies since King Salman's son was appointed crown prince in June 2017, particularly after the October 2018 assassination of Saudi journalist and power critic Jamal Khashoggi. at the consulate of his country in Istanbul.
