King Abdullah, 90, hospitalized for tests

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Saudi Arabia’s 90-year-old monarch, King Abdullah, was hospitalized Wednesday for medical tests, the state news agency reported.

For many months, Abdullah’s apparently failing health has put a spotlight on leadership questions in the U.S.-allied kingdom. Oil-rich Saudi Arabia, the main Sunni Muslim power in the Persian Gulf region, is a major partner in the American-led military coalition confronting the Sunni militants of the Islamic State.

The royal palace said the king was admitted to King Abdulaziz Medical Center in the capital, Riyadh, for undisclosed “medical checks.” No other details were provided.

Abdullah, who was reported to have undergone back surgery in 2011 and again in 2012, is rarely seen in public. Earlier this year, he was photographed seated in a wheelchair, breathing with the help of an oxygen tube.