Saudi Arabia New king veteran in leadership and diplomatic duties

Saudi Arabia's new King, Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, is a veteran of the country's top leadership, versed in diplomacy from nearly 50 years as the Governor of the capital Riyadh and known as a mediator of disputes within the sprawling royal family.
Salman, 79, had increasingly taken on the duties of the King over the past year as Abdullah became more incapacitated.

Salman was concerned that reforms, especially those regarding women, were moving too fast. Photo / AP

Salman had served as Defence Minister since 2011 and so was head of the military as Saudi Arabia joined the United States and other Arab countries in carrying out airstrikes in Syria in 2014 against Isis (Islamic State). The kingdom began to see the Sunni militant group as a threat to its own stability.
He takes the helm at a time when the ultraconservative Muslim kingdom and oil powerhouse is trying to navigate social pressures from a burgeoning youth population - over half the population of 20 million is under 25 - seeking jobs and increasingly testing boundaries of speech on the internet, where criticism of the royal family is rife.

Salman's ascension hands the throne to yet another aging son of Saudi Arabia's founder, King Abdulaziz al-Saud, who is thought to have had dozens of sons from multiple wives. He has suffered at least one stroke that has left him with limited movement on his left arm.
The Saudi throne has for decades passed between al-Saud's sons. But each succession has brought the kingdom closer to a time when the next generation - al-Saud's grandsons - will have to take over. Abdullah had carried out a slow but determined series of reforms aimed at modernising the country, including increasing education and nudging open the margins of rights for women. Salman appears to back those reforms, but he has also voiced concerns about moving too fast.
In a 2007 meeting, he told an outgoing US ambassador that "social and cultural factors" - even more than religious - mean change has to be introduced slowly and with sensitivity, noting the power of the multiple tribes in the kingdom, according to an embassy memo of the meeting leaked by the WikiLeaks whistleblower site.
He struck the same theme in a 2010 interview with Karen Elliot House, author of On Saudi Arabia: Its People, Past, Religion, Fault Lines. He told her that while Americans are unified by democracy, Saudi Arabia is in essence unified by his family, the al-Sauds. "We can't have democracy in Saudi Arabia, he said, because if we did every tribe would be a party and then we would be like Iraq and would have chaos," House said.
Salman was one of the so-called "Sudeiri Seven" - seven sons born to one of Abdulaziz's most favoured wives, Hussa bint Ahmad Sudeiri. The seven full-brothers were seen as a centre of power within the family.
The 2007 US Embassy memo said Salman "is often the referee in family disputes." It pointed to an incident after Abdullah formalised the Allegiance Council, a body of top royals that is tasked with voting on succession issues based on merit and not just age. Salman's eldest living brother, Abdul-Rahman, was outspoken in his criticism of the arrangement, but Salman bluntly told his brother to "shut up and get back to work", according to the memo.
Salman became the Governor of Riyadh in 1963 and over the next 48 years he oversaw its transformation from an isolated desert town into a crowded city of skyscrapers, universities and Western fast-food chains. The post made him well known internationally.
In discussions with US diplomats in 2007 revealed in several memos, Salman said the key to bringing stability to the Middle East was to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, adding that Israel is "a burden on the US".
Salman's sons include Prince Abdulaziz, the deputy oil minister; Prince Faisal, the Governor of Medina; and Prince Sultan, the first Arab astronaut and head of the tourism authority.

The succession

Crown Prince Muqrin
Abdullah took the unusual step of setting a second-in-line to the throne: Prince Muqrin. Notably, Muqrin's nomination as deputy crown prince was approved by the Allegiance Council -- the first time it voted on a succession issue, setting a precedent for its authority. He won with a three-quarters majority. Muqrin, who once oversaw the kingdom's intelligence agency, is the youngest of Abdulaziz's sons. Still, he is 69. Miteb
Two in the next generation are seen as front-runners. One is Miteb, the son of Abdullah, who holds the powerful post of commander of the National Guard, effectively the King's personal force.
Mohammed
The other likely contender is Interior Minister Prince Mohammed, the son of Abdullah's half-brother Nayef. Nayef was a powerhouse in Saudi Arabia for years, holding the Interior Ministry post and leading security forces in the fight against Islamic militants. Nayef was elevated to crown prince under Abdullah but died in 2012. Mohammed later became interior minister himself.
Faisal
Others may be possibilities. Prince Faisal, the son of Salman, is Governor of Medina, one of Islam's holiest sites.
Mohammed
Another son of Salman, Prince Mohammed, is believed to be the closest to his father and head of his royal court, though being only in his 30s could keep him out of the immediate running.
Khaled bin Bandar
Another grandson, Prince Khaled bin Bandar, served as deputy defence minister briefly and was the first of his generation to be Governor of Riyadh. He is now head of intelligence.
Khaled bin Sultan
Prince Khaled bin Sultan, whose father was crown prince and Defence Minister until his death in 2011, also may be in the running. He served nearly 18 months as Deputy Defence Minister but was abruptly removed in 2013 in what many saw as a sign of Abdullah's disapproval.