Saudi Arabia’s royal palace says King Abdullah has left the New York Presbyterian Hospital in good health after two successful back surgeries.
Wednesday’s statement from the palace says the monarch will remain in New York for recuperation and to continue his physical therapy. It doesn’t say how long that will take.
The statement says Abdullah left the hospital late Tuesday evening.
The 86-year-old king had his first surgery last month for a slipped disk and a blood clot pressing on the nerves in his back. The second surgery, meant to stabilize a number of vertebrae, was performed early this month.
Before he left for the United States, Abdullah temporarily handed control of the kingdom to Crown Prince Sultan, his 85-year-old half brother.
Saudi-Syrian effort
In a related development Syrian ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul Karim Ali on Wednesday stressed that the Damascus-Riyadh mediation effort was ongoing and stressed that the results of this effort should emerge soon in Lebanon .. in the form of consensus and dialogue among the rival politicians away from media spotlight .
The hospitalization of king Abdullah has reportedly resulted in the slowdown of the Saudi- Syrian mediation effort , according to local reports
Ali said Syria is hopeful that the outcome of the mediation effort will lead to would to preventing a strife.”
Commenting on Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s position on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) he said this was not new and was “preceded by many positions which shook the image of the international tribunal and doubted its credibility.”
On Monday Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei joined Hezbollah’s campaign against the Special Tribunal for Lebanon . He announced after a meeting with the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani that any indictment handed down by a U.N.-backed court looking into the 2005 killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri will be “null and void.”
Syria along with Hezbollah and Iran have been dead against the Tribunal. AP, Ya Libnan
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.