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One year into power, Haitham Bin Tariq seems to have completed sweeping changes at the top of the military as the sultan and key allies, including his brother Sayyid Shihab, emerge from the long shadow of the late Sultan Qaboos’s rule by placing their appointees into revised security structures.

Ethiopian authorities said they had foiled a plan to attack the UAE embassy in Addis Ababa. A 4 February Ethiopian Press Agency report cited a National Intelligence Security Service statement that said 15 people were arrested, and arms and explosives seized.

In one of its last decisions on the region, the Trump administration on 15 January designated the UAE and Bahrain as “major security partners” of the United States. A White House statement described the move as recognising the “exceptional security partnership” and commitment of both countries to counter extremism in the region.

The new coalition government has had a torrid opening month marked by internal rifts and deadly attacks by opponents. The US designation of the Houthis as a terrorist organisation risks further suffering in the Yazidi movement’s area of control.

The Public Investment Fund (PIF)’s Saudi Arabian Military Industries (Sami) subsidiary in late December said it had acquired Advanced Electronics Company (AEC) as “part of the largest military industries deal ever concluded” in the kingdom. The purchase of the local/UK venture, after which AEC will be 100% Saudi-owned, should be completed by end-March following regulatory approvals. The acquisition (#TheMajorDeal) was announced during a ceremony attended by officials from the PIF, Sami, AEC, BAE Systems Saudi Arabia, General Authority for Military Industries and the Ministry of Defence.

The assassination of Dr Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, Iran’s top nuclear weapons scientist, on 27 November has thrown the Iranian establishment into turmoil. Although Fakhrizadeh had a security team with him and had previously been identified by Israel – notably by Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu personally – as a target, he was attacked in a populated area and his attackers seem to have disappeared without trace. According to a former Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC) officer, he was the seventh Iranian nuclear scientist to be assassinated.

The vulnerability of Saudi oil infrastructure was underlined by two separate incidents in late November. At 3.50am local time on 23 November, a fuel tank at a distribution terminal north of Jeddah was hit by a missile that Houthi rebels said they had fired from Yemen. A Ministry of Energy spokesman said the explosion had caused a fire but there were no casualties and Saudi Aramco’s fuel supplies to customers were not affected.

Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi may be trying to undo the state patronage machine that has guaranteed rule by political factions and militias for years, but analysts warn the threat posed by armed groups remains high – and increasingly complex – despite a recently announced pause on attacks on the US and other diplomatic missions in Baghdad.

Major General Sheikh Salem Nawaf Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah has been appointed as the new head of the State Security Bureau, replacing Talal Saqr who was ousted as part of investigations into corruption linked to Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

Court proceedings against former Airbus subsidiary GPT Special Project Management and a number of businessmen began on 14 September.The case involves charges of corruption between January 2007 and December 2012 related to a £2bn ($2.6bn) contract to provide communications services to the Saudi Arabian National Guard (Sang).

The cabinet has given the green light to a recommendation from the Government Executive Committee, led by Crown Prince Salman Bin Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa, to set up a committee to tackle terrorism and money laundering. The plan was approved at the regular weekly cabinet meeting on 20 July.

Protesters have been returning to the streets of Iraqi cities in increasing numbers over the course of July, leading to a number of deaths and highlighting the fact that Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi has yet to come up with any clear solution to the many governance, infrastructure and economic problems which have long plagued the country. 

Sheikh Khalifa Bin Rashid Al-Khalifa has been appointed to manage the security affairs of his grandfather prime minister Prince Khalifa Bin Salman Al-Khalifa, in an edict issued on 4 July by the premier. The following day, Khalifa Bin Rashid held a meeting with PM’s Court Guard commander Brigadier General Mohammed Salman Al-Qassimi and facilities protection department head Colonel Khalid Mohammed Al-Sada. The appointment comes after Khalifa Bin Rashid was appointed an adviser to the PM in late May, with the rank of minister.

Both Oman and the UAE have reacted with deliberate calmness to the unusual death of Omani citizen Rashid Al-Shehi, who was shot by Emirati border guards on UAE soil on the border between the two countries on 19 June. The incident has not been used by either country to inflame tensions, with no press reports issued beyond the official notifications of the incident.

Denmark has taken Saudi Arabia to task after three members of the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahwaz (ASMLA) – a violent separatist movement in Iran – were charged on 10 June with terror-related activities, with the authorities saying they had received funding from an unnamed Saudi intelligence service.