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Emir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah continues to struggle with poor health after an emergency trip to New York for medical treatment earlier this month. Accompanied by Kuwait’s top gastroenterologist, Dr. Fahad Al-Ibraheem, the ruler was sent for tests related to the long-term impact of his stomach cancer. Sheikh Nawaf has for years struggled with the ailment.  

Dubai Crown Prince and Dubai Executive Council chairman Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum attended the ceremony for the 21st batch of graduates from the Rashid Bin Saeed Al-Maktoum Naval College in Al-Taweelah, Abu Dhabi on 9 March, posing for a photo with the graduating officers.

In a royal decree on March 30, King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa appointed Khalid Yusuf Al-Jalahma as Bahrain’s first ambassador to Israel, following the Abraham Accords signed in September.

Syria’s foreign affairs and expatriates minister Faisal Mekdad was in Muscat on 21 March for talks with officials including Royal Office minister General Sultan Mohammed Al-Nuamani, foreign minister Sayyid Badr Bin Hamad Al-Busaidi and deputy prime minister for international relations and co-operation Sayyid Asaad Bin Tariq Al-Said.

The apparent involvement of Bassem Awadallah in the alleged plot to overthrow King Abdullah II signals the fall of a Palestinian Jordanian (born in Jerusalem in 1964) who flew high in Hashemite politics and later cultivated the senior Saudi leadership.

The northern peninsula continues to be a focus for policy-makers in Muscat, not least due to the perceived risk of outside interference and a small separatist movement. The isolated region is getting long-awaited infrastructure spending by the Omani government – and has also attracted the attention of a Texan oil company.

Omani citizen Abdullah Awad Al-Shamsi was reportedly released by the UAE authorities in April, having been arrested on charges of spying for Qatar in August 2018. In May 2020 he was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeals in what advocacy group Human Rights Watch described as “a grossly unfair trial.”

President Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan’s diplomatic adviser Anwar Gargash led the UAE delegation at a meeting with the foreign ministers of Greece, Cyprus and Israel on 16 April. The talks, held in Cyprus, covered recent developments in the east Mediterranean and links between the four countries in investment, tourism and other economic areas.

Governments around the Gulf appear to have rediscovered the potential for diplomacy to settle their differences in a significant mood shift after the turmoil of the Donald Trump presidency, when allies knew there was little chance of being upbraided for anything deemed ethically questionable or destabilising, as long as they kept buying American military equipment.

GSN Risk Grade – B↓3 Overview Politics: Sultan Haitham Bin Tariq Bin Taimur Al-Said was named ruler in January 2020, succeeding the late Qaboos Bin Said Al-Said as the 15th ruler of the Al-Busaidi dynasty (founded in 1750). Qaboos was a monumental figure who, having deposed his father in 1970, had led Oman since 1970. The succession process was quick and smooth, orchestrated via the Royal Family Council. Haitham has moved cautiously in the opening period of his rule, broadly following his predecessor’s domestic and regional policies.

The Iranian consulate in Karbala was attacked by protestors on 9 May, following the murder of local activist Ihab Jawad Al-Wazni, who had been a key figure in anti-government protests in late 2019, when there was a wave of demonstrations that spread around the country.

Ruler Sheikh Sultan Bin Mohammed Al-Qasimi has raised the minimum wage for local citizens by 43%, to Dh25,000 ($6,800) from Dh17,500. It follows a Department of Social Services study into Sharjah living standards.

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has ruled that Iran owes an unspecified amount of damages to relatives of the 176 people who died on Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752, which was shot down by Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC) missiles soon after taking off from a Tehran airport on 8 January 2020.

Foreign affairs minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Bin Jassim Al-Thani began a multi-country tour of North African states on 23 May, to discuss tensions and instability around the region. His first stop was Libya, where he had meetings with President Mohammed Manfi, vice-presidents Mossa Al-Koni and Abdullah Hussein Al-Lafi, key player prime minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah and foreign minister Najla Mangoush.

Two diplomats serving in the consulate-general in Kerala have reportedly left India and returned to the UAE, while members of the consulate without diplomatic status face trial on gold smuggling charges. The departed two, former consul-general Jamal Hussain Al-Zaab and ex-administrative attaché Rashed Khamis Ali Musaiqri, are no longer employed as diplomats.