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A five-day meeting in Aden concluded with leaders from other factions joining the Southern Transitional Council (STC), prompting warnings from Houthi rebels and others about the growing risk of the secessionist movement gaining ground in Yemen.

A Yemen Coast Guard officer was killed in an exchange of fire with private security guards on the luxury yacht Kalizma off the coast of Al-Mahra governorate late April. A guard on the Cook Islands-flagged Kalizma was also wounded.

Construction work is underway on a 2,400-metre runway on Abd Al-Kuri, the westernmost island in Yemen's Socotra archipelago, according to recent satellite imagery. Local press reports have said the UAE is behind the project, but there has been no official confirmation of its involvement.

The Geneva meetings of Yemen's Houthi rebels and representatives of the internationally-recognised government led to the first prisoner exchange between the two sides since 2022. The exchange involved a total of 887 prisoners, with 181 released by the Houthis and 706 freed by the government or the Saudi-led coalition.

There is hope of peace in Yemen, but a breakthrough between Houthi rebels and Riyadh remains just out of reach, despite extensive talks in Sanaa, where ambassador Mohammed Al-Jaber made the first senior Saudi visit since 2015. However, further talks are due to be held in May, against the backdrop of improving Saudi-Iran relations and a wider regional trend favouring diplomacy over conflict.

A fresh outbreak of violence in Sudan between the country’s two military strongmen, General Burhan and Hemedti, has shown the limits of UAE and Saudi influence, despite years of close involvement by the Gulf powers.

Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) states are reshaping their regional outlook, as transactional relationships replace some of the more ideologically-driven approaches taken since the 2011 Arab Spring. Former outcasts led by Iran and Syria are being welcomed into Gulf palaces once again, at least in part due to concerns the US can no longer provide a trusted security umbrella. In this rapidly changing environment, Iran could yet emerge as a significant new market for GCC investors.

A UN-brokered deal to remove some 1m barrels of crude from the FSO Safer should avert an environmental disaster at the dangerously unstable wreck near Yemen's Hodeidah port and also points to increasing scope for deals between the Houthis and other authorities.

A United Nations appeal to raise funds to tackle Yemen’s deepening crisis failed to meet its target at the high-level event in Geneva late February, raising just $1.2bn of the $4.3bn that was sought. It was a shortfall that echoed what has happened at past UN fundraising events.

Somalia has been accused by the Sanaa-based Petroleum Exploration and Production Authority (Pepa) of having an unofficial maritime map that includes offshore blocks that are in Yemeni waters. The dispute adds to an already complex situation for the oil and gas sector, amid the ongoing civil war. Despite that, Sanaa authorities say they are seeking interest from IOCs in offshore blocks.

Matthew Campbell and Kit Chellel's book "Dead in the Water: Murder and Fraud in the World's Most Secretive Industry" chronicles the proceedings that uncovered a jaw-dropping international conspiracy to commit what would have been the world's largest-ever maritime insurance fraud.

The mountainous province in Saudi Arabia's south-west has been earmarked as a future centre for tourism, notwithstanding the threats posed by attacks from Houthi rebels across the border in Yemen. Asir could be a model for Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s post-oil development ambitions, as well as for more short-term efforts to stabilise potentially restless populations.

Recent developments Attempts continue to renew the ceasefire in Yemen, but the emphasis has switched to finding a permanent settlement. Much of recent diplomatic activity has been necessarily secret. Saudi Arabia appears more urgently determined to extract itself from the war.

In his new book, 25 Days to Aden, regional risk and security expert Michael Knights – a former contributor to GSN – has offered an unprecedented view of the UAE as a rising, and effective, military power, as it became embroiled in the Yemen conflict.

There are signs that the drone war in Yemen could be entering a new phase, with wider deployment of unmanned aircraft by several groups involved in the conflict. While Houthi drone capabilities, facilitated by Iran, are well established, observers point out that pro-government forces are also now deploying their own drone assets, allegedly provided by the Saudi Arabia-led coalition. There were fears among southern forces that Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) may also join the drone war, as pressures mount across the south.