Saudi King ndergoes successful back surgery - medical sources

Saudi King undergoes successful back surgery - medical sources

The Royal Court of Saudi Arabia has announced that a back surgery on the country's monarch, King Abdullah, was successful.

Medical sources said the King was admitted to hospital on Sunday and that the surgery to tighten the ligaments around his third vertebrae, was performed successfully on Monday.

The health of King Abdullah, who is in his late 80s, is a matter of keen interest in the conservative Islamic kingdom,.

He had two rounds of back surgery in the US last year after suffering a herniated disc, leading to a three-month recuperation period outside the kingdom.

Saudi Arabia runs a strictly hierarchical system of politics and the monarch's health has left doubts lingering over the ruling family's long term succession plans.

Next to the throne

The heir to the throne, Crown Prince Sultan, is in his mid 80s and has been in the United States since June for medical treatment.

Next-in-line to Prince Sultan is widely assumed to be Prince Nayef, Saudi Arabia's interior minister since 1975, who is in his late 70s and has a reputation as more conservative than his elder brothers the king and crown prince.

Unlike European monarchies, the line of succession does not move directly from father to eldest son but has moved down a line of brothers born to the kingdom's founding King , Abdulaziz Ibn Saud, who died in 1953.

Hauwa Anaja Abu/agency reports