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Political figures in the eastern governorate of Al-Mahra have taken to social media to complain about the presence of a contingent of British special forces, which they claim is co-located with Saudi forces based at Al-Ghaydah airfield.

Pictures taken on 2-3 August during a visit by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to Semera airfield suggest he was there to inspect a pair of Iranian-supplied armed drones, according to analysis conducted by open-source intelligence specialist Bellingcat. Semera lies in the Afar region adjacent to Tigray, where an insurrection against Ethiopia’s government continues.

The extent of co-operation between the UAE and Egypt was evident during a recent training exercise involving all elements of the Egyptian armed forces, which featured UAE-made guided bombs. Exercise Qader 21 was held to coincide with the opening of the 3 July Naval Base at Ras Gargoub, some 300km west of Alexandria. President Abdel-Fattah El Sisi’s guest of honour at the inauguration ceremony was Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and UAE Armed Forces deputy supreme commander Mohammed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan (MBZ).

The United States announced an end to combat missions in Iraq by 31 December, following several days of meetings with Iraqi figures in Washington in late July. In April the US had said it planned to take the step, but did not set a date.

Gulf allies were in attendance to watch Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El Sisi inaugurate the 3 July Naval Base at Ras Gargoub, 140km east of the Egypt-Libya border on July.

The visit by Sultan Haitham Bin Tariq Al-Said to Saudi Arabia has focused attention once again on the role the sultanate could play in bringing the Yemen war to an end. Oman has long positioned itself as a neutral player, hosting Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abd Al-Salam in Muscat and regularly receiving international delegations. Dozens of Yemeni tribal leaders and businessmen base in the sultanate and Iranian officials like foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif often meet Houthi representatives in Muscat.

Qatar and Turkey have signed a technical agreement allowing Doha to station a mixed fleet of fighters, transport aircraft and helicopters at the Turkish Air Force Base at Konya in central Anatolia. The agreement is valid for five years and was signed in March, but has only come to light in recent weeks.

Drones have enjoyed increased range and accuracy in recent years, becoming a potent military weapon in the Yemen conflict. However, in the tradition of military innovation and counter-innovation, drone counter-measures are now catching up.

Amid continuing efforts in Riyadh and Muscat to move forward with peace talks to end the Yemen conflict – or at least Saudi Arabia’s direct involvement in it – the UAE is continuing to consolidate its position on two Yemeni outposts, where it appears intent on maintaining its influence in any post-conflict environment.

The steady evolution of Tehran’s missile capabilities since the punishing war with Iraq in the 1980s has seen it make huge gains in range and accuracy. The evidence suggests this arsenal is focused on US and Israeli targets in the Levant – and on Saudi and UAE sites in the Gulf.

Israel’s recently appointed foreign minister Yair Lapid travelled to the UAE as GSN on 30 June, to inaugurate the Israeli embassy in Abu Dhabi and a consulate in Dubai. He held talks with foreign affairs and international cooperation minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan while in Abu Dhabi.

President Vladimir Putin has denied that Russia is soon to provide an advanced satellite imagery platform to Iran. The Washington Post on 10 June reported that Moscow had already sent a team to train ground crew in handling the Kanopus-V system, near the northern city of Karaj.

Extensive contacts between Saudi Arabia, Oman and Yemen have prompted renewed speculation about the role Muscat may be playing in persuading the Houthis to sign a peace deal with Riyadh, bringing an end to their destructive conflict.

The United States Department of the Treasury has removed sanctions on three former Iranian government officials and two companies it said had previously been involved in the purchase, acquisition, sale, transport or marketing of Iranian petrochemicals products. The US said the designations were removed after “a verified change in status or behaviour on the part of the sanctioned parties”.

The Islamic Republic of Iran Navy (Nedaja) lost its largest vessel on 2 June, when fleet replenishment tanker Kharg sank in the Gulf of Oman close to the town of Jask with no loss of life; it had caught fire some 20 hours earlier. The vessel had been on a training mission with about 200 naval cadets aboard.