Government | Sunday 12 July, 2015 1:03 am |

The funeral prayer for former Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal was held at the Grand Mosque in Makkah, in the presence of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman, on Saturday night.

Representatives from a number of countries and high-ranking royals attended the prayer, held after Isha.
King Salman received Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and Bahraini Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al-Khalifa, who offered their condolences on the death of Prince Saud to the king, in Makkah.

The king received a telephone call from Egyptian President Abdul Fattah El-Sissi, who expressed sorrow over the demise of Prince Saud.
Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh, Turkish Foreign Minister Mouloud Chaooh Ihsanoglu, Algerian Parliament Speaker Abdul Qader bin Saleh, Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra and Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, representative of the Ruler in the Western Region of the UAE, arrived in Jeddah on Saturday to condole with the king over the death of the veteran diplomat.

Meanwhile, Madinah Gov. Prince Faisal bin Salman offered his condolences to King Salman on Prince Saud’s death.
Prince Faisal sent a letter to King Salman on behalf of the people of Madinah, saying that Prince Saud had spent his life to serve the nation for 40 years.
Prince Saud, who died in Los Angeles on Thursday, was the world’s longest-serving foreign minister and oversaw four decades of diplomacy for the Kingdom.

In a separate development, King Salman opened the third phase of the Grand Mosque expansion in Makkah, Al-Arabiya reported.