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Forces aligned with Yemen’s Southern Transitional Council (STC) have claimed a major victory in Abyan, following an operation launched on 23 August to clear the governorate of "terrorist elements".

Iran has announced a series of advances for its home-grown missile arsenal, as western powers raise concern Tehran may be willing to provide missiles for Russia to use in the Ukraine war.

Since the six-month ceasefire in Yemen ended in early October, Houthi forces have launched a series of drone attacks on energy infrastructure targets. To date, they have caused minimal damage, but the rebel group showed during the summer that it has a large stock of weapons at its disposal and more strikes seem likely.

After Iranian drones were reported to have attacked apartment buildings and other civilian targets in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, Tehran and Moscow denied the Islamic Republic had supplied any such equipment. However, there is clear evidence that points in the other direction.

That the legendary late head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp’s Quds Force, Qassim Soleimani, has not been forgotten following his January 2020 assassination by the United States was underlined by a 2 November tweet on Iranian Rahbar (Supreme Leader) Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s Twitter account.

The United States has approved a deal to sell a $3bn air defence system to Kuwait.

A keel-laying ceremony was held in Marinette, Wisconsin, for the second ship in the Tuwaiq project, which will provide the Royal Saudi Naval Forces (RSNF) with four multi-tasking combat ships able to deal with air, surface and subsurface threats.

Protestors have refused to stand down in the face of sometimes overwhelming state force in the seven weeks since Mahsa Amini died in custody. The movement’s support base has spread across the country and into parts of society not usually associated with political demonstrations, putting Ayatollah Ali Khamenei under unprecedented pressure. His regime is not yet facing the end, but the challenge to the clerical/military leadership will not fade easily or quickly.

Iran has voiced concerns that recent fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which flared up again in September, will impact its direct trucking routes through Armenia via the Lachin corridor to Georgia and Russia. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said: "The Islamic Republic will not tolerate policies or plans that lead to the closing of the Iran-Armenia border."

Yemen’s Sunni Islamist party Al-Islah is facing mounting challenges, as southerners demand full implementation of the 2019 Riyadh Agreement – under which the Southern Transitional Council (STC) was recognised as the legitimate representative of the southern people – and Houthis escalate their campaign across Marib and Taiz.

Iranian drones are now being seen regularly over the Ukrainian battlefield, following previous reports of a supply deal between Tehran and Moscow.

A sustained campaign of artillery, rocket and drone strikes by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC) on targets in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) in late September and early October has prompted a wave of condemnation from Baghdad, regional and international capitals. However, as yet, there are no signs Tehran is preparing to back down, or that the Iraqi government or other countries will take any significant retaliatory action.

The Kuwait Air Force received two more Eurofighter Typhoon Tranche 3 jets in late September, part of a $9.6bn order for 28 of the multi-role fighter aircraft signed in late 2015.

The UAE president’s diplomatic adviser Anwar Gargash has said Abu Dhabi is now pursuing a “zero problems” policy with neighbours. The veteran diplomat told the 5 October Arab Media Forum in Dubai that Abu Dhabi wanted to rebuild relationships with Iran, Turkey and other problem countries of recent years.

United States Central Command (Centcom) is planning to set up a new anti-drone testing facility in the Gulf. The location has yet to be finalised, but a site in Saudi Arabia is seen as most likely, given the availability of large open spaces away from population centres, which will make it easier to test signal-jamming, directed energy weapons and other electronic warfare methods.