Oman’s ruler back home after medical checkup in Belgium

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Oman’s 79-year-old ruler has returned to his sultanate after travelling to Belgium for a medical checkup, the sultanate’s state-run news agency reported Friday.

Sultan Qaboos bin Said left “for some medical checks that will take a limited period, God willing,” the Oman News Agency reported a week earlier, citing a royal court statement. A similar royal statement announced his return, without elaborating. Bin Said has taken medical trips abroad in the past.The sultan has ruled Oman since overthrowing his father in a bloodless 1970 coup. He has no known successor for his throne in Oman, a country on the eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula that’s home to some 4.6 million people.