WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump awarded the US Legion of Merit, Degree Chief Commander, to Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah, the White House said in a statement on Friday.
This is the first time the honour has been given since 1991.
The 91-year-old emir arrived in the US in July to complete medical treatment, the Kuwaiti state news agency said at the time, adding he was in stable condition after having undergone successful surgery in July.
The emir’s eldest son, Sheikh Nasser Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah, accepted the award on behalf of his father at a private ceremony with Trump on Friday.
The White House praised the emir as an “unwavering friend and partner to the US” who gave “indispensable support to the United States throughout Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom, and the Defeat-ISIS campaign”.
The White House described the award given to the Kuwaiti emir on Friday as a rare, prestigious decoration that can only be bestowed by the president, typically to foreign heads of state or government.