The Bahraini monarch, King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, assigned his son, the Crown Prince, to head the Council of Ministers, hours after the death of Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, who remained the head of the government of the Gulf Kingdom for 49 years.

And according to a royal decree published by the official news agency, the country's king decided to "assign His Royal Highness, the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander Prince Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, to head the Council of Ministers."

The prime minister-designate, 51, belongs to a new generation of Gulf leaders who were educated in the West and tried to build bridges with the opposition.

Prince Salman, the eldest son of the king, has held discussions with representatives of the Shiite opposition, which have demanded since 2011 the consolidation of the constitutional monarchy and the election of key leaders in the ruling system, including the prime minister.

But he failed to bridge the rift and the dialogue did not reach a conclusion.

In contrast to his uncle, Prince Khalifa, who refused dialogue, the crown prince, who is the deputy supreme commander of the armed forces, leans toward political pragmatism in a small kingdom that has been witnessing intermittent unrest since the outbreak of the protest movement demanding change in 2011.

Bahrain, located between Saudi Arabia and Iran, is the headquarters of the US Fifth Fleet. US President Donald Trump has eased restrictions on arms sales to Manama since he took office in January 2017.