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Plans by Saudi Arabia to develop a military cargo aircraft in partnership with Kiev-based Antonov State Company appear to be in trouble, after reports that the Ukrainian state-owned commercial company has suspended its involvement in the project. The AN-132D light transport plane had its maiden flight in April 2017; a demonstration model was on display at the Paris International Air Show and the Dubai Airshow later that year.

Abu Dhabi International Airport is to be renamed Zayed International Airport, after the UAE’s founding president, the late Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al-Nahyan.

Ras Al-Khaimah's efforts to raise its international profile – and bring in investment as a result – was underlined by Emir Sheikh Saud Bin Saqr Al-Qasimi’s prominent role in China, as the UAE’s senior representative at the Third Belt and Road Forum in Beijing.

Kuwait’s Crown Prince Sheikh Meshaal Al Ahmed Al Sabah used part of his speech at the opening of parliament late October to express his surprise at the Iraqi Constitutional Court ruling in September which annulled an agreement between Kuwait and Iraq to share the Khor Abdullah waterway. 

The National Anti-Corruption Commission (Nazaha, meaning integrity) has released summaries of 21 recent cases, offering an insight into its work, the scale of some corruption cases and its willingness to indict senior officials. 

The Qatar-headquartered International Union of Muslim Scholars (Iums) has called for urgent military intervention in Gaza. Founded and formerly headed by Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, a senior Al-Ikhwan Al-Muslimeen figure who died in September 2022, Iums is generally regarded as the primary religious authority guiding Hamas.

Saudi Arabia hosted fresh talks in late October between President General Abdel-Fattah Burhan’s Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) led by Lieutenant General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo (often known as Hemedti).

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.

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.

Revised November 2023, this map illustrates Saudi oil and gas infrastructure.  The locations of oil and gas fields and pipelines are marked alongside associated infrastructure including oil refineries, gas processing plants, tanker terminals and LNG facilities. An accompanying box displays provincial populations as well as their respective governors.  The map is available as a PDF file using eps graphics, meaning that there is no loss of resolution as the file is enlarged.

Kuwait may be heading for a change in government and yet another general election, with a series of political challenges facing the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmed Al-Nawaf Al-Sabah – who, GSN understands, is in any case losing interest in the job.

While the UAE made headlines with a global media onslaught celebrating its mission to Mars, federal Vice President, prime minister and Dubai Ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum (MBR) pushed ahead with a plan first suggested in May to overhaul the UAE government’s structure following consultations with the main power centre of Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan.

After days of intense negotiations, Iran and the six world powers signed a historic interim agreement aimed at resolving the Iranian nuclear crisis. But the deal with Shiite Iran will cause alarm in the Arab Gulf states, especially in Saudi Arabia, which has felt excluded from a process it fears could destabilise the region.

Russian President Vladimir Putin made an unexpected visit to the UAE and Saudi Arabia on 6 December – a rare foreign excursion for a leader who has tended to stay close to home since launching the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Notably, neither Gulf country is a signatory to the International Criminal Court, which in March issued an arrest warrant for Putin over Russian war crimes in Ukraine.

Emir Sheikh Nawaf’s admission to hospital in late November has directed renewed attention on the succession process in Kuwait, where Crown Prince Mishaal has been in de facto control for the past two years and now appears to be taking steps to ensure some of the more contentious political issues are resolved before he takes the top job.