UPDATE 2 - Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Sabah dies age 86

UPDATES WITH MORE DETAILS; REVISES HEADLINE, DECK

By Anadolu staff

ISTANBUL (AA) - Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Sabah died on Saturday at the age of 86, his office announced.

Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, the minister of Amiri Diwan affairs, said Sheikh Nawaf was admitted to the hospital this morning due to emergency health problems and got necessary treatment, state news agency KUNA reported.

According to KUNA, the Kuwaiti emir was also hospitalized last month for an "emergency health issue," and his condition at the time was said to be stable.

The Kuwaiti government declared 40 days of mourning in the country, with state offices also closed for three days.

- Who is Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Sabah?

After serving as crown prince for 14 years, Sheikh Nawaf became Kuwait's ruler on Sept. 29, 2020 following the death of his brother and predecessor, Sabah al-Ahmed al-Jaber al-Sabah.

Sheikh Nawaf, who ruled the country for more than three years, was born in Kuwait on Jun. 25, 1937.

He served as governor of the city of Hawally, south of the capital Kuwait, in 1962.

He had two stints as interior minister, first from 1978 to 1988 and then in 2003 to 2006.

In 1988, he served as defense minister.

Sheikh Nawaf also served as social affairs and labor minister in the first Kuwaiti government established in April 1991 after Kuwait's war of liberation against Iraq.

He was described as the spiritual father of the Kuwaiti security forces.

Sheikh Nawaf, the sixth son of Emir Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Mubarak Al Sabah, who reigned in Kuwait for nearly three decades from 1921 to 1950, has four sons and one daughter.

* Writing by Ikram Kouachi