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Deputy prime minister for the Council of Ministers Sayyid Fahd Bin Mahmoud Al-Said received Estonia premier Taavi Roivas on Sultan Qaboos Bin Said’s behalf, during his official visit to the sultanate – an event intended to cement a deepening relationship and involving a large number of government ministers and other officials. The Baltic News Service focused on the “many e-services available in Oman [that] are bearing the ‘Made in Estonia’ label”, with moves to expand co-operation in IT, culture, education and tourism. Roivas looked forward to investment protection and double taxation agreements to be concluded soon.

King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa appointed his son, Crown Prince Salman, first deputy prime minister on 11 March, a move widely perceived as conciliatory towards the opposition. Royal decree 14 named Salman, who is already deputy supreme commander of the Bahrain Defence Force, “First Deputy Premier for the Development and Performance of the Executive Authority’s Bodies”. 
It is a role with potential, given the urgency of institutional reform

Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah’s decision to dissolve the National Assembly on 16 October, only nine months before the end of its four-year term, was officially because of regional security concerns. But removing the most acquiescent parliament of recent years seems like an attempt to sideline critics and pre-empt their chances of gaining significant ground at the next elections.

An increasingly vocal and politically active youth, as well as internal rivalry among the Kurdish old guard, threaten to shake up the northern region’s political order

The Saudi bombing of targets in Yemen has underlined the potential for the crisis in the poor and populous southern Arabian state to flare into wider conflict (see Risk management report – Saudi Arabia). Escalation of the crisis also poses major problems for opposition forces within the country, who are well aware of President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s ability to turn a political and humanitarian drama to his advantage.

Big rise in Mena syndications: Bloomberg’s annual Europe, Middle East and Africa capital markets league tables showed a sharp rise in syndications in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region, where syndicated loans increased by 52.8% to $127.2bn in 2018, surpassing the previous record set in 2007. First Abu Dhabi Bank ranked as the top Mena bookrunner with 8.85% of credited market share, followed by HSBC and Standard Chartered. Saudi-based borrowers took 35.54% market share, followed by UAE- and Oman-based borrowers with 27.61% and 9.9% respectively.

President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi has announced a 17-member committee to draft Yemen’s new constitution, in presidential decree No 27 for 2014, dated 8 March. At the committee’s first meeting on 16 March, Ismail Ahmed Al-Wazir, a former member of the Supreme Court, was elected its head, with Najeeb Shameeri and Nihal Al-Awlaqi, a member of the Socialist party, as deputies, and Abdul Malik Ismail as rapporteur. The committee will work simultaneously to the committee drafting the new federal system of six regions, following the conclusion of the ordinary sessions of the National Dialogue Conference (NDC).

In Saudi Arabia, state news agency SPA released a photograph of eight fighter pilots who had taken to the skies to attack Islamic State extremists in northern Syria. As Riyadh tries to demonstrate the strength of its opposition to jihadists it has often been accused of supporting, it was interesting to note that Crown Prince Salman Bin Abdelaziz’s son Khalid Bin Salman was among those flying.

For the first time since it was invaded by its neighbour in 1990, the government has pledged $100m in aid for Iraq to support projects in areas retaken from Islamic State (IS or Daesh), officials said. It will be directed through Iraq’s Reconstruction Fund for Areas Affected by Terrorist Operations, set up by the government in 2015.

The UK is closing its consulate in Basra, and shifting resources north to Baghdad and Iraqi Kurdistan. In a statement on 16 October, foreign secretary William Hague said the office in Basra would no longer be continually staffed, and argued that the improving security situation meant staff could fly direct to Basra within an hour, should they need to.

Emerging family and tribal squabbles threaten to destabilise the Yemeni regime, as Ali Abdullah Saleh struggles to solve problems in the north and safeguard his dynastic legacy

Saudi officials, including General Authority of Civil Aviation president Faisal Al-Sugair and Najran governor Prince Mishaal Bin Abdullah Bin Abdelaziz, have visited the new SR400m ($106.6m) Najran regional airport where Saudi Arabian Airlines will shift its operations on 18 September.

While the post-election narrative in Iraq has focused on Moqtada Al-Sadr’s enhanced position as political kingmaker, the former firebrand’s relative success in the 12 May poll reveals more about the growing gap between political elites and the people they are meant to represent than any putative radicalisation of the electorate under Shia clerical leadership. Sadr’s Sairoon (On the Move) electoral bloc secured more votes than any other faction in the election, taking 54 out of 329 seats – albeit on a record low turnout of just 44.5% of registered voters.

Understanding the motivations of the emirate’s rulers has long been a guessing game for outsiders, but the latest move is a logical next step in efforts to assert itself on the regional and international stage. Qatar has never been a country to shy away from the global spotlight, and for years GSN has followed Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani’s adventurous international strategy.

Politics: At the top of each emirate are the rulers’ courts and their crown princes. In practice, only the rulers of Abu Dhabi and Dubai make unilateral decisions and issue emiri decrees; most of the smaller emirates use legislation crafted at federal level. Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah all have executive councils (Dubai’s is relatively informal). Abu Dhabi and Sharjah have national consultative councils, whose usefulness (like the Federal National Council) has been questioned. For family trees of all seven families, see GSN 1,000.