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Official statements from the Gulf monarchies have called for de-escalation and international mediation between Hamas and Israel, but there have been notable differences in where blame has been apportioned.

The Bahrain Defence Force (BDF) announced late September that First Lieutenant Hamad Khalifa Al-Kubaisi had succumbed to the injuries he had sustained during a Houthi attack on Bahraini forces on the Saudi/Yemen border four days earlier, becoming the fourth casualty from the incident.

Yemen deaths: The Bahrain Defence Force (BDF) announced on 25 September that First Lieutenant Mubarak Hashel Zayed Al-Kubaisi and Corporal Yaqoub Rahmat Moulai Mohammed had been killed while serving along the Saudi-Yemen border. Several others were wounded in what it described as a drone attack by Houthi forces; Warrant Officer Adam Salem Naseeb succumbed to his injuries two days later.

Grundberg diplomacy: United Nations special envoy Hans Grundberg has been meeting senior figures around the region, in an effort to inject new momentum into the peace process. He was in Riyadh on 9 August where he met Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) head Rashad Al-Alimi, Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik, foreign minister Ahmed Bin Mubarak and Saudi ambassador to Yemen Mohamed Al-Jaber. The following week, Grundberg was in Muscat for talks with Foreign Ministry undersecretary Khalifa Al-Harthy and Houthi chief negotiator Mohammed Abdel Salam.

Saudi border guards have been accused of killing hundreds of Ethiopian migrants trying to cross the border from Yemen between March 2022 and June 2023. The Saudi government said the allegations were "unfounded".

Saudi Arabia is trying to leverage its burgeoning relationship with China to further its aims in Yemen. And Chinese officials have expressed some interest in getting involved. However, the UAE views the idea of greater Chinese involvement as an attempt to undermine its position.

A United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)-led project to remove the estimated 1.14m barrels of oil from the stricken floating storage and offloading (FSO) vessel Safer got under way, with the first crude being transferred to the replacement tanker Yemen, which was recently retitled from its previous name of Nautica.

Saudi Arabia is dedicating more attention to southern Yemen, even as it continues efforts to secure a peace agreement with the Houthis in the north. A key aim for Riyadh is ensuring Yemen remains unified. However, this strategy means Saudi allies continue to clash with the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC), which is pushing for independence.

The launch of the Saudi-backed Hadhramaut National Council on 19 June has underlined fears that Yemen could break up into three distinct areas, with the Houthis controlling Sanaa and other parts of the north, while the rest of the country is divided between the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council and other groups supported by Saudi Arabia.

The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) kept the UAE on its 'grey list' of jurisdictions under increased monitoring. The UAE is one of 26 jurisdictions on the grey list, alongside the likes of Jordan, Turkey and Yemen. The inter-governmental watchdog also kept Iran on its 'black list' of high-risk jurisdictions, alongside North Korea and Myanmar.

Abda Sharif was appointed the United Kingdom's ambassador to Yemen. She is due to take up the post in September, replacing Richard Oppenheim who has held the job since August 2021.

Slow moves towards peace: Yemen remains a failed state (F on GSN’s risk grade scale), with an economy and society ravaged by war (risk grade 6). Cautious moves towards achieving a sustainable peace depend on the main belligerents buying into a credible, internationally-brokered deal. Even then, dangerous non-state actors – and more covert action by governments – will likely mean Yemen remains deeply unstable for years to come.

UAE President Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan hosted Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council chairman Rashad Al-Alimi at Qasr Al-Bahr in Abu Dhabi.

The United Nations launched the operation to recover some 1m barrels of oil from the stricken FSO Safer tanker off the coast of Yemen, but it says it is still some $29m short of its funding target to complete the operation.

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.