UAE president, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, died at the age of 73 on May 13, 2022. (Credit: Jamal Saidi/Reuters)
BEIRUT — Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Friday declared three days of national mourning following the death of United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the state-run National News Agency reported.
Here’s what we know:
• During the mourning period from Friday to Sunday, flags will be flown at half-mast on all public buildings and television and radio programs will have to be modified, although Mikati’s statement did not specify the exact modifications required.
• President Michel Aoun offered his condolences for the loss of Al-Nahyan whom he dubbed the “honest brother who loved Lebanon and the Lebanese” and “defended rightful Arab causes.” Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi described Al Nahyan in his condolences as a “whitehanded man and a leader loyal to his country.”
• Al Nahyan oversaw his country's meteoric rise on the international scene over the past two decades. Rarely seen in public since a stroke in January 2014, he is expected to be replaced shortly by his half-brother, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohammad bin Zayed, known as “MBZ,” who has long been considered the de facto ruler of the country and has international renown.