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US Central Command (Centcom) commander General Joseph Votel has done the rounds of Gulf allies, having expressed strong misgivings about the dispute between Qatar and the GCC-3 of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain. Votel held talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi in Baghdad on 20 July, with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani on 23 July, with Saudi Crown Prince and defence minister Mohammed Bin Salman Bin Abdelaziz in Riyadh on 25 July, and with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan in Abu Dhabi on 26 July, joined by high-profile UAE ambassador to Washington Yousef Al-Otaiba.

A new chairman was appointed to the Hedeyah Countering Violent Extremism Centre in Abu Dhabi in late February, Abu Dhabi Educational Council (Adec) director general and executive council member for Abu Dhabi Dr Ali Rashid Al-Noaimi. Hedeyah was created out of the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF) and inaugurated in December 2012. Among Hedeyah’s recent initiatives was a 27-28 January meeting organised with the International Institute for Justice and Rule of Law (IIJ) in Valetta, Malta, on the Rehabilitation of Returning Foreign Terrorist Fighters (RFTF) Program. Coping with returnees from jihad is a focus issue for Hedeyah.

The Sultanate is on the verge of a defence deal that will enhance its ability to deal with military threats in the region, from piracy in the Horn of Africa to tensions with Iran and Yemen. The Royal Air force of Oman will be the big winner in the next phase of procurement

US Secretary of State John Kerry and foreign minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Sabah co-chaired the first US-Kuwait Strategic Dialogue on 21 October in Washington. The two sides discussed initiatives to enhance co-operation across a wide range of areas, including defence, security, economic, educational, scientific and consular issues. A series of working groups have been set up ahead of the next strategic dialogue, which is due to take place in Kuwait next year.

Following the failed attempt of a Nigerian engineering student Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab to blow up Northwest Airlines’ Flight 253 over the United States last December, Yemen received unprecedented global attention. The media focus has dropped somewhat since then, but the region remains the subject of considerable concern

Both Oman and the UAE have reacted with deliberate calmness to the unusual death of Omani citizen Rashid Al-Shehi, who was shot by Emirati border guards on UAE soil on the border between the two countries on 19 June. The incident has not been used by either country to inflame tensions, with no press reports issued beyond the official notifications of the incident.

President Ali Abdullah Saleh has returned to Sanaa after visits to Egypt and Russia. Following talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Saleh travelled to Moscow to meet senior Russian officials and attend an international exhibition on technology and equipment. Saleh is thought to have discussed Yemen’s bilateral debt

Worried that the bitterness that has recently crept into the UAE-UK relationship could jeopardise lucrative trade, Prime Minister David Cameron flew to Dubai this week to try to build goodwill, and sell jets. But wary of criticism back home, he kept his visit low key, and his language bland.

President Ali Abdullah Saleh has made his long awaited exit, but it is a country in chaos he leaves behind. Militant gains in the south, street protests, gun battles, assassinations and air force mutinies do not build a picture of a nation ripe for political transition, but rather of a Yemen imploding

Governments seek Atacms deals, US in $71m Javelin missile sale

With the 31 August deadline looming for the withdrawal of US combat forces in Iraq, GSN has visited locations across the country to conduct a wide-ranging assessment of the security situation and the likely impact of withdrawal. We asked what the drawdown would mean on the ground and whether the Iraqi Security Forces will cope.

The Syrian National Coalition (SNC)’s Saudi-backed leadership made its first official visit to Washington in May, seeking greater US support in its war against President Bashar Al-Assad. SNC President Ahmad Jarba and his military chief, Brigadier General Abdulillah Al-Bashir – who heads the Supreme Joint Military Command Council (SMC) – came away from their 5-14 May meetings with promises of $27m of new non-lethal assistance, and that the SNC’s representative offices in the US would now be considered foreign missions. The move – which does not allow the SNC to take over the Syrian embassy, or assume the status of government – is certainly a boost to the SNC’s credibility.

Ten people have been killed in clashes between northern Houthi rebels and government-allied tribesmen

One year after an Islamic State (IS or Daesh) suicide bomber killed 27 people inside a Shia mosque in Kuwait City – and following the discovery of three IS cells the authorities said were plotting attacks in the country – strict security procedures were imposed on mosques, oil fields and Kuwait International Airport in the run up to Eid Al-Fitr. The authorities said they had carried three out “pre-emptive” operations in Kuwait and abroad that confounded a number of IS plots within Kuwait and led to the arrest of several Daesh members.

Relations between Riyadh and Washington have come under additional strain, after the US Senate passed legislation that would allow survivors and relatives of those killed in the 11 September 2001 (9/11) attacks to file lawsuits seeking damages against the Saudi government.The Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (Jasta) will now go to the House of Representatives, although President Barack Obama is ultimately expected to veto the measure. On 15 April, The New York Times reported that foreign minister Adel Al-Jubair had threatened to sell $750bn-worth of US assets owned by Saudi Arabia if Congress passed the act.