Search results

A leak of top secret US intelligence reports included allegations that UAE intelligence agents have been cooperating with their Russian counterparts to act against western interests. Abu Dhabi has denied there is any substance to these allegations, but they have come at a time of heightened concern in Washington about commercial and military ties between the UAE and Moscow.

Iran has unveiled a new cruise missile, named the Paveh, which, with a claimed range of 1,650km, could easily reach Israel.

The 86th Flotilla of the Iranian Navy (Nejada) docked in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil late February for a week-long port visit, having apparently bypassed the Panama Canal by taking a 7,000 nautical mile detour around South America instead. It is unclear where the flotilla is heading for next.

Control of the Asir region has fluctuated between different groups over the centuries. By the 1830s, the Al-Ayed dynasty was in control, until the area was captured by the Ottomans in the late 1860s. Saudi Arabia’s founder King Abdelaziz (Ibn Saud) brought Asir under his direct rule in the early 1920s.

Recent developments Attempts continue to renew the ceasefire in Yemen, but the emphasis has switched to finding a permanent settlement. Much of recent diplomatic activity has been necessarily secret. Saudi Arabia appears more urgently determined to extract itself from the war.

Convincing forensic evidence of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) aerospace activity has emerged from the hard drive of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) seized at sea last year in a British naval anti-smuggling operation. Analysis of the quadcopter drone, seized in early 2022 from smuggler boats heading for Yemen, found details of pre-shipment test flights conducted at the IRGC Aerospace Force’s test facility, which is believed to be located at Chitgar in north-western Tehran.

Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces chief of staff Major General Mohammad Bagheri has been seen inspecting a new tactical airbase named Oghrab-44 (Eagle-44), as he used an official video to introduce Iranians to the facility, located in mountainous terrain in the south. Bagheri said similar facilities were being built in other mountainous areas.

US State Department spokesman Ned Price said that the United States agreed with the United Nations consensus view that Al-Qaeda veteran Saif Al-Adel was now de facto head of the jihadist group and that he was based in Iran.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

For all United Nations special envoy to Yemen Hans Grundberg’s efforts at shuttle diplomacy, the continued failure to relaunch the UN-backed ceasefire – which ended in October – has raised the prospect of renewed threats to shipping in the waters around Yemen. This has particular resonance for the UAE, which has often resorted to using commercial vessels as part of its security response.