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Washington’s decision to pursue arms deals with Bahrain may have been intended to empower Crown Prince Salman, but it was no cause for cheer among the ruling family’s increasingly frustrated opposition

Body-worn camera (BWC) specialist Edesix has opened an office in Dubai as the focus of a regional market drive. The UK-based firm already supplies VideoBadges to the Abu Dhabi police force. Managing director Richie McBride said Edesix “see[s] the Middle East as a fast-growing market”. The office will explore regional markets, “support our growing channel within the UAE” and promote integrated video management systems.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said it had killed two members of a ‘terrorist group’ and wounded four others, in a clash in the Marivan general district of Kurdistan province on 19 May. It was the latest in a long line of security incidents along Iran’s western border. The latest operation, carried out by the IRGC’s Hamzeh Seyed Al-Shohada Base in partnership with local intelligence agencies, followed an incident on 5 May, when three IRGC soldiers including Colonel Shakiba Salimi were killed by what official sources labelled “counter-revolutionary terrorists” in Divandere.

In late March, the media arm of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), Al-Malahim, posted a video online of a large gathering of AQAP leaders and members, a bold show of numbers and force which included Nasir Al-Wahayshi, who is the head of AQAP and widely seen as the Al-Qaeda number two. The video, entitled ‘First of the Heavy Rain’, is thought to have been shot in Marib province. It shows a reception for the 29 convicted members of AQAP who escaped from Sanaa Central Prison on 13 February, their prison break apparently the fulfilment, in part at least, of Al-Wahayshi’s August 2013 promise to release brothers imprisoned in Yemen, made around the time of mass prison breaks in Iraq, Pakistan and Libya.

French defence minister Florence Parly has let slip that Paris is this month deploying “a robust package of advanced air defence warning”, including radars, to Saudi Arabia to counter low-altitude drone and cruise missile attacks of the type that struck Aramco refining facilities on 14 September. She made her comments in a statement to journalists on the fringes of the annual Manama Dialogue security conference in Bahrain.However, it was also clear from her comments that Parly had not been briefed on where exactly the gaps remained in the Saudi air defence system.

Saudi Arabia’s interior ministry said on 7 July it had arrested three brothers suspected of being linked to the 26 June suicide bombing in Kuwait carried out by the Islamic State extremist group. One of the three was arrested in Kuwait, and is in the process of being extradited. The second was arrested in Taif governorate, in the region of Mecca.

The war in Syria is spreading to Lebanon and fitting increasingly neatly into the narrative of a broader Arab-Persian cold war, with Sunni fighters in Syria and Lebanon using the language of a sectarian ‘clash of civilisations’.

The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) is investigating allegations of bribery involving Iraqi government officials, a US contractor and a Kuwaiti-based but Iraqi-owned subcontractor linked to former prime minister Nouri Al-Maliki. The corruption claims – which first emerged in filings to the US Securities and Exchange Commission in late 2018 by Caliburn International – centre around Balad Air Base, where Caliburn subsidiary Sallyport Global Services has won a series of large contracts in recent years.

A former senior diplomat in the Middle East, Thomas Hurd has formally taken over as director-general of the UK’s Office of Security and Counter Terrorism (OSCT). In January it was announced he would replace Charles Farr, who now chairs the Joint Intelligence Committee. A son of former Conservative foreign secretary Lord (Douglas) Hurd of Westwell, Hurd has three children from his marriage to Catherine ‘Sian’ Hurd né Aubrey, who died in a fall from the roof of their New York apartment in May 2011 as the family was preparing to move back to London after Hurd’s three years at the United Nations Security Council.

The execution of 47 Islamist militants the authorities had linked to terrorism was filled with symbolism: for Riyadh it marked the kingdom’s determination to show zero tolerance of terrorism and extremist Sunni or Shia takfiri (deviant) ideology; in Iran it was seen as yet another provocation against the region’s Shiite populations, leading radicals to invade Saudi legations in Tehran and Mashhad.

The UAE suspended its participation in air strikes on Islamic State in December, after Jordanian pilot Muath Al-Kasasbeh was captured by the extremists, according to unnamed US officials quoted by The New York Times (NYT) on 3 February. The news comes a day after it emerged that Kasasbeh, whose F-16 crashed over north-eastern Syria, was burnt alive by members of Islamic State. According to the NYT, the UAE – whose joining of the coalition against Islamic State was much publicised – wants the Pentagon to improve its search and rescue efforts, in case other pilots are downed.

Saudi Royal Air Force Tornado aircraft arrived at Konya air base in Turkey on 24 May to participate in the Anatolian Eagle exercise. Chief of General Staff Lieutenant General Abdelrahman Bin Saleh Al-Bunyan followed on 28 May, when he met Saudi units at Incirlik Air Base. He was met by Saudi military attaché to Turkey commodore pilot Khaled Bin Hussein Al-Assaf. London-based daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat reported that the 20-day exercise will also involve Qatari forces.

If the Houthi rebellion flares up into a sixth major round of fighting, Saudi Arabia will probably be a combatant almost from the outset. Initially Saudi support would probably be low visibility, including a surge or money, equipment and air support.

Since the 13-14 May US-Gulf Co-operation Council summit, at which the United States promised to fast-track arms transfers to its Gulf allies (GSN 993/3), the US has approved at least two possible military sales to the region. On 29 May, the State Department approved the sale to the UAE of guided bomb units (GBUs) and associated parts and logistical support worth around $130m. The UAE has requested 1600 GBUs of three different specifications – 500 GBU-31B/B(V)1 (MK-84/BLU-117) bombs, 500 GBU-31B/B(V)3 (BLU-109) bombs and 600 GBU-12 (MK-82/BLU-111) bombs – along with containers, fuses, spare parts, technical documentation, personnel training and training equipment.

A rise in crimes such as carjacking, mugging and harassment, and continued warnings of a possible terrorist attack as AQAP regroups, are testing the international security community