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Developments in recent weeks suggest that local resistance to outside interference has stiffened in Yemen’s Mahra governorate, which borders Oman. It has not reached the point where Mahris wish to secede from Yemen, but there is an insistence that they enjoy a high degree of autonomy in any post-war settlement.  

President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi’s government continues to lose ground against the Houthis in Marib province, where the rebels are close to encircling Marib city. Since taking control of the Al-Awadh tribal area in Al-Baydha province’s Radman district, south of Marib governorate, Houthis have advanced into the Qayfah area and have pushed Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and Islamic State elements further away from their stronghold in Rada, Al-Baydha.

GSN Risk Grade - B3. Hydrogen developments: The government is among those that have seen an opportunity to be an early mover in the potentially huge global hydrogen economy.

Peace negotiations in Riyadh between the Southern Transition Council (STC) and President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi’s government remain at an impasse, but there are some indications that Riyadh’s patience with Hadi is wearing thin.Saudi Arabia has maintained its support for the Hadi administration through most of the Yemen conflict, but his authority is being continually undermined by his allies in the south – predominantly vice president Ali Mohsen and the Sunni Islamist party Al-Islah – but also by his own conduct while residing in Riyadh, where sources say his hosts have been disappointed by Hadi’s lack of engagement with local or international actors.

Talks under way in Riyadh between President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi’s government and the Southern Transitional Council (STC) could pave the way for a return of government officials to the interim capital Aden, even after the recent ousting of Hadi’s governor from Socotra by STC forces closely aligned with the UAE. Saudi Arabia has been pushing for a political deal between the two parties, in the hope it will bring an end to clashes in Abyan governorate.

Nomination papers were filed by 376 candidates for the upcoming National Assembly (parliament) election by the time of the 7 September deadline, including 27 women. Among the candidates were over 44 members of the outgoing parliament, as well as former national speaker Ahmed Al-Saadoun.

Regular analysis of satellite imagery of Perim Island in the Bab El Mandeb strait over recent weeks suggests a new 1,900m runway planned by the UAE remains incomplete, although enough of it has been built to mean it is probably usable by tactical transport aircraft.

Prime Minister and Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS)’s Vision 2030 policies have increasingly sought to make the kingdom a hub for global sporting events, its soft power projection extending through the ownership of football and other sporting assets and, in the process, providing unprecedented entertainment for the Saudi population.

Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman is anxious to press on with the Neom mega-project and is apparently unhappy with the progress made to date, despite continuing scepticism at the viability of the strategic master plan for a city intended to house 9m people, who would be vertically organised to live along a linear glass wall. 

Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) has been pushing his economic reform agenda in the days since being named prime minister. On 29 September, he unveiled a new strategy for Savvy Games Group, a subsidiary of the state-owned Public Investment Fund (PIF), with the aim of turning the kingdom into a hub for gaming and esports by 2030.

A 45-year prison term given to a Saudi woman accused of damaging the country via her activity on Twitter has highlighted what appears to be another wave of repression.

Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) has worked hard to remove any possibility of political opposition emerging from within Al-Saud ranks over the past five years. This campaign has involved several bouts of locking up senior family members, with the clear backing of his father King Salman, most notably in November 2017 but most recently in March when Princes Ahmed Bin Abdelaziz and Mohammed Bin Nayef were moved from house arrest to prison.

The reshuffle ordered by Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) on 30 August downsized Khalid Al-Falih’s bureaucratic empire, as one of the Saudi economy’s major players was replaced as chairman of Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Aramco), while his sprawling Ministry of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources empire was broken up. MBS’s favoured vehicle for enacting economic reform, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), has gained further ground in the Saudi business and policy hierarchy, as its head Yasir Al-Rumayyan is taking over as Aramco chairman.

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.

The position of opposition figures exiled in Turkey is the hottest issue being debated on social media – a reflection of the issue’s importance to many Kuwaitis and why the exiles are playing such a part in the national dialogue intended to build bridges between a government weakened by Emir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmed’s frequent absences for treatment in Germany and a fractious parliament’s determination to block vital legislation needed to kick-start the stagnating economy.