UPDATE - Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Sabah dies at 86

UPDATES WITH MORE INFO ON KUWAITI EMIR, EDITS THROUGHOUT

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, 86, was admitted to the hospital this morning due to emergency health problems and received 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 was said to be stable at the time.

- Who is Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah?

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

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 Hawally city, south of the capital Kuwait, in 1962.

He assumed the office of minister of internal affairs between 1978-1988 and run it for a second term between 2003-2006.

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 security forces in Kuwait.

Sheikh Nawaf, the sixth son of Emir Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Mubarak Al Sabah, who reigned in Kuwait for 29 years from 1921 to 1950, has four sons and one daughter.

* Writing by Ikram Kouachi