Qaboos, The Sultan Who Shielded Oman From Region’s Turmoil
January 11, 2020
5:23 pm
Oman’s Sultan Qaboos, who died on Friday aged 79, transformed the former Arabian Peninsula backwater into a modern state and sought-after mediator while shielding the sultanate from a region in turmoil.
The intensely private sultan — the longest-reigning ruler in the modern Arab world — left no apparent heir and the royal family was charged with selecting a successor.
Instead however they opted for the sultan’s own choice, his cousin Haitham bin Tariq, who was named in a sealed letter that Qaboos had prepared in case of a deadlock.
Qaboos was born on November 18, 1940, into the centuries-old Al-Said
