DUBAI/CAIRO: The Middle East’s longest-serving ruler, Oman’s Sultan Qaboos bin Said, died on Friday and the Gulf state’s high military council called on the ruling family to assemble for choosing a descendant. He was 79.
A 79-year-old Qaboos bin Said had ruled since taking over in a bloodless coup in 1970 with the help of former colonial power Britain. Three days of official mourning have been announced, with flags flown at half-mast for 40 days on the demise of Qaboos.
Qaboos had been laid up for years and spent a week in Belgium undergoing medical treatment in early December.
It is worth to mention here that Qaboos had no offspring and had not publicly selected a descendant. A 1996 statute says the ruling family will choose a successor within three days.
The high military board, in a statement on state media on Saturday, called on Oman’s ruling family council to convene to choose a new ruler.
According to Oman observers the sultan’s three cousins, Assad, Shihab and Haitham bin Tariq al-Said stand the best chance. The sultan’s death comes at a time of heightened tension in the region between Iran and the United States and US ally Saudi Arabia.
Oman maintains friendly ties with Washington and Tehran and helped mediate secret US-Iran talks in 2013 that led two years later to the international nuclear pact which Washington quit in 2018.
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