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In his new book, 25 Days to Aden, regional risk and security expert Michael Knights – a former contributor to GSN – has offered an unprecedented view of the UAE as a rising, and effective, military power, as it became embroiled in the Yemen conflict.

French naval forces seized more than 3,000 assault rifles, 578,000 rounds of ammunition and 23 advanced anti-tank guided missiles in the Gulf of Oman mid-January. The action was announced by US Central Command in February, which said it happened “along routes historically used to traffic weapons unlawfully from Iran to Yemen”.

Turkey’s Baykar Technology is to supply an unspecified number of its Bayraktar TB2 armed drones to Kuwait's Ministry of Defence, in a $370m deal announced in January. The deal means 28 countries have now signed contracts for the Bayraktar TB2, including Qatar.

An attack by suspected Israeli drones appeared to cause relatively minor damage to a military base in the central city of Isfahan late January. Iranian officials described the facility as a workshop, but did not give further details of its function.

There are signs that the drone war in Yemen could be entering a new phase, with wider deployment of unmanned aircraft by several groups involved in the conflict. While Houthi drone capabilities, facilitated by Iran, are well established, observers point out that pro-government forces are also now deploying their own drone assets, allegedly provided by the Saudi Arabia-led coalition. There were fears among southern forces that Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) may also join the drone war, as pressures mount across the south.

The Royal Saudi Naval Force (RSNF) handed over the command of the Combined Task Force 150 (CTF-150) to the United Kingdom's Royal Navy (RN) in January, in a ceremony at the US naval base in Bahrain. RN Captain James Byron has taken over from the RSNF's Rear Admiral Abdullah Bin Miteb Al-Mutairi.

The recent summit called by UAE President Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan (MBZ) involving some – but not all – regional leaders has underlined the important role that Abu Dhabi plays in regional affairs. The wealthy emirate is an ever bigger player in international affairs – from managing climate change to intervening in African conflicts – even if international attention is more often captured by events and pronouncements from Iran and Saudi Arabia.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is converting two former container ships built by Hyundai Shipbuilding in Korea more than 20 years ago into naval vessels. The conversion is being carried out at the Iran Shipbuilding & Offshore Industries Complex (Isoico) at Bandar Abbas.

Having successfully expelled forces linked to the Al-Islah Party from Yemen’s oil-rich Shabwa province in 2022, pro-Southern Transition Council (STC) groups are now aiming to remove the last remnants of fighters from the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated group from Wadi Hadramawt – a strategically-important 640km-long valley at the centre of Hadramawt province.

Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammad Shia Al-Sudani travelled to Berlin in January for an official visit – his first to Europe since taking office in October. Energy and security issues dominated the agenda, with discussions about potential Iraqi gas supplies to Germany and the ongoing work by Siemens Energy to rehabilitate Iraq’s electricity sector, following a deal with the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity in 2019.

A number of Kilo-class submarines were seen during Exercise Zulfaqar 1401, held by the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy (Nedaja) in early January, following a period when all of the boats had been out of service.

Following the change in the UAE's chief of staff, Ali Mohammed Hammad Al-Shamsi was promoted in January to Supreme Council for National Security (SCNS) secretary general (SG) via another federal decree. Al-Shamsi was previously deputy SG.

State-owned Edge Group subsidiary Abu Dhabi Shipbuilding (ADSB) has started work on Falaj 3-class fast patrol ships for the UAE Navy, following a contract award for four of the vessels in 2021.

The United Kingdom government said in December that it was hosting some 21 military personnel from the Gulf for liaison and engagement purposes.

The United States Navy said it had seized 2,116 AK-47 assault rifles in the Gulf of Oman in January that were being sent from Iran to Yemen.