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The drone attack claimed by Bahrain’s Saraya Al-Ashtar on a transport company’s base at the Israeli port of Eilat in late April may have been carried out by allied Iraqi militia group Kataib Hizbollah, according to analysts.

Qatar and the UAE have thrown their weight behind plans to develop a trade route linking Europe and the Gulf via Iraq – a move which suggests Abu Dhabi may be looking more seriously at potential alternatives to the India-Europe trade corridor running through Israel, which it had backed prior to the Gaza war.

Allies and enemies are anxiously waiting to see if the Israeli government will escalate regional conflict further after more than 300 projectiles were fired from Iran at Israel on 13-14 April in Tehran’s retaliation to the Israeli strike that killed IRGC commanders in Damascus. Most of the drones and missiles were shot down, but a few hit Israeli military bases, causing limited damage.

Seven members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp were killed when missiles levelled the consular office next to Iran’s embassy in the Syrian capital. While other IRGC officers have been killed by Israeli strikes in Syria in recent months, this attack appears the most serious yet.

Efforts to bring the Gaza conflict to an end continue, with little apparent prospect of short-term success. Arab states are pushing for Israel to end its bombardment but there is just as much focus on trying to ensure the war doesn’t escalate into a regional conflagration. A key challenge is the Houthis’ campaign against commercial shipping in the Red Sea, which Washington and allies are struggling to counter despite a major attack on targets in Yemen on 12 January.

Qatar has said it is continuing to push for a permanent ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, after a week-long ‘humanitarian pause’ it helped to foster ended on 1 December. The resumption of fighting has seen Israel launch a major bombardment of southern Gaza and brought renewed condemnation from Gulf governments.

In a major coup for Qatar, Doha has been credited with brokering a four-day truce in Gaza, which was due to come into effect as GSN was going to press, in a deal where Hamas would start freeing its 7 October hostages while Israel releases Palestinian prisoners from its jails. There is still a huge amount of work to do by international partners if a wider peace settlement is to be achieved, but what is clear is that Qatari actors have emerged as international players after years of effort to position Doha as a deal-broker that can be all things to all men.

The organisational structure of Hamas is clouded in secrecy, but the current war – and negotiations to bring it to an end – mean it is now critical for Israel and other parties to understand how the group operates and makes its decisions.

Houthi forces in Yemen have continued to launch missiles and drones towards Israel. A drone from Yemen was shot down over the Red Sea in mid-November by the United States Navy destroyer USS Thomas Hudner.

The usual dizzying number of civil and military contracts were unveiled at the mid-November Dubai Airshow where, included among the 54 deals signed by the UAE government's Tawazun Council, was an air defence order with the unknown Black Diamond company, which GSN's research suggests is an Israeli venture created after Abu Dhabi's Abraham Accord was concluded.

Omani officials told GSN that the failure to achieve a settlement to the Israel/Palestinian conflict was nurturing radicalisation and undermining the prospects for resolving other political problems across the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia is leading a fresh effort from the Gulf to assert its regional influence in an attempt to bring the Gaza war to an end, there has been no indication that Israel would consider reducing the intensity of its relentless bombing campaign as it seeks vengeance for the brutal Hamas assault of 7 October.

Houthi spokesman Brigadier Yahya Saree said that the Yemeni group's forces had launched ballistic and cruise missiles at Israeli targets in the occupied Palestinian territories. Houthi Political Council member Mohammed Al-Bukhaiti added that the attack had been carried out despite calls from the US, passed on via Omani mediators, for the Houthis not to intervene.

In regions across the Middle East and North Africa where popular support for the Palestinian cause is widespread, the UAE has been trying to walk a fine line, maintaining diplomatic ties with Israel while publicly focusing on the provision of humanitarian aid to Gaza and calls for a ceasefire.

The 'Axis of Resistance' bloc of state and non-state actors, Shia and Sunni militias, has been long in the making, as Iran's revolutionary elite has sought to project its influence via a disparate group of organisations ranged across the Middle East. Its components are of differing sizes and capabilities, and their links to Iran also vary.