The man taking control of the world's top oil exporter is well established in the Gulf kingdom's corridors of power.
Salman,
79, is "a stalwart of the royal family" who is "viewed as a pragmatic
and cautious reformer, much like his predecessor," says CNN's Becky
Anderson in Abu Dhabi.
He has served as
defense minister and deputy prime minister of Saudi Arabia, a vital
U.S. ally in the Middle East, for years. Like Abdullah, he's one of the
dozens of sons of Saudi Arabia's founder, King Abdulaziz.
Here are some of the key points about the new ruler.
He's an experienced leader
Salman was governor of the Saudi capital, Riyadh, for nearly five decades during a period of significant change.
"When
he became governor in 1963, Riyadh had 200,000 inhabitants — today it
has more than seven million," Bruce Riedel, a senior fellow at the
Brookings Institution's Center for Middle East Policy, said in a commentary. "Salman presided over this remarkable transformation with a record for good governance and a lack of corruption."
Salman bin Abdulaziz al Saud, who is succeeding his older brother as king of Saudi Arabia, speaking at an event in May 2014.
"He
had to be a combination ... of a reformer, of a judge, a jury in some
cases, and deal with dissent, as well as dealing with economic issues,"
Robert Jordan, a former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia, told CNN. "So I
think he's well prepared for the task at hand."
Salman's experience running Riyadh also involved keeping many of the numerous members of the Saudi royal family in line.
"Since
most of the royal princes and princesses live in Riyadh, he was also
the family sheriff, ensuring any transgressions were dealt with smoothly
and quietly, with no publicity," said Riedel, who worked for the CIA
for 30 years.
His national roles have since brought him wider responsibility.
Salman
"has been chairing cabinet meetings for several months and handling
almost all foreign travel responsibilities for the monarchy since he
became the heir in 2012," Riedel said.
He's unlikely to rock the boat
Salman's ascension to the throne is in line with the appointments put in place by Abdullah before his death.
"I
think that you'll see a continuation -- very similar policies, very
similar dynamics unfolding," said James Zogby, president of the Arab
American Institute. "The kingdom is modernizing; it's changing, it's
reforming and it will continue to do so over the next several decades."
Riedel says the royal family "values family collegiality and harmony highly."
"The
two previous Saudi kingdoms in the 18th and 19th centuries were wracked
by internal family squabbles, which their foreign enemies exploited,"
he explains. "With the Arab world facing its worst crisis in decades,
the royals will want to present an image of stability and strength."
There are concerns about his health
Salman is one of Abdullah's younger brothers. But at 79, he's not particularly young.
There
are unconfirmed reports that he may have various health problems. But
with Saudi Arabian media tightly controlled by the state, nobody's
really sure what his condition is.
Riedel says Salman has had a stroke, Simon Henderson of the Washington Institute says the new king's brain is "ravaged by dementia," and The Economist reports he's believed to be suffering from Alzheimer's.
"Reports
do differ sharply over just how ill Prince Salman really is -- and
medical reports on the illnesses of the Saudi royal family can be
grossly inaccurate," cautioned Anthony H. Cordesman, a Middle East expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Salman's schedule of official meetings suggests a degree of health. But Henderson isn't convinced it proves he's highly capable.
"The
fact that Salman appears in public at all is attributed to his
determination to become king -- or, more likely, the ambition of his
closest relatives that he should do so," he wrote last month.
He has a successor waiting in the wings
Salman's first order after assuming the throne was to appoint his youngest brother, Prince Muqrin, as the new crown prince.
Analysts
see that appointment as an effort to ensure future stability. Abdullah
had named Muqrin as deputy crown prince in March.
At
69 years old, Muqrin is relatively youthful. A former head of
intelligence for the kingdom, he is also reportedly well-liked by world
leaders.
Muqrin "has been closely linked to Abdullah and his policies of modernization and reform," according to Cordesman.
But
the succession plan isn't without its critics. Muqrin's mother does not
have royal blood, which is a sticking point for some people in Saudi
Arabia.
His sons include an astronaut and a fighter pilot
Several of Salman's sons also hold prominent positions.
They include Prince Sultan, who in the 1980s became the first Muslim astronaut and is now the president of Saudi Arabia's tourism authority; Prince Abdulaziz, the deputy oil minister; and Prince Faisal, the governor of the Medina region.
Another
son, Prince Khaled, was reportedly among the pilots who carried out the
first airstrikes on ISIS positions in Syria last year.
Details
about Salman's earlier life and upbringing weren't immediately
available Friday. But an official biography contained one nugget about
his youth: he had apparently memorized the Quran by the age of 10, it
said.
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