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Iran launched missiles and drones at targets in Iraq, Syria and Pakistan in mid-January, claiming it was striking back at terrorist groups and Israel-linked sites, in a tough approach that has been accompanied by a domestic clampdown on moderate politicians ahead of elections in March. This suggests the regime continues to feel vulnerable to opposition at home, while speculation builds around the eventual succession to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is the subject of the first of a series of GSN profiles.

The latest phase of tensions in Hadhramaut involves UAE-backed factions competing with groups linked to Saudi Arabia.

Sultan Haitham Bin Tariq Al-Said sailed to Khasab port in the isolated Musandam peninsula in mid-January for a meet-the-people tour and to inspect economic developments, directing local officials to push ahead with further housing and commercial projects.

Former finance minister Ali Sherif Al-Emadi has been fined almost $17bn and given a 20-year sentence by a Qatari court for money laundering and other charges. The court also sentenced Sheikh Nawaf Bin Jassim Bin Jabr Al-Thani to six years in prison and fined him $227m for misuse of public funds.

Emir Sheikh Mishaal Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah’s first cabinet retained just three ministers from the previous administration in Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Sabah Al-Sabah’s new government. However, many of the new ministers have served in cabinets before as shown in GSN’s round-up of the new administration’s CVs.

Kuwait’s new Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Sabah Al-Sabah appears to have taken note of the recently enthroned Emir Sheikh Mishaal Al-Ahmed’s desire for change, with new ministers being appointed to all the major posts in cabinet, including defence, finance, foreign affairs and oil, while some portfolios have been rationalised to deliver more rational government.

Efforts to bring the Gaza conflict to an end continue, with little apparent prospect of short-term success. Arab states are pushing for Israel to end its bombardment but there is just as much focus on trying to ensure the war doesn’t escalate into a regional conflagration. A key challenge is the Houthis’ campaign against commercial shipping in the Red Sea, which Washington and allies are struggling to counter despite a major attack on targets in Yemen on 12 January.

The emirate’s authorities deployed some 1,200 police to enforce the ban on celebrations, in a move which underlined Sharjah’s willingness to plough its own furrow.

In a noticeable uptick in President Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan’s recent overseas travel, MBZ has gone to Azerbaijan and India to cement commercial ties, in his first visit to another Brics member since the UAE joined the big emerging economies’ club at the start of the year.

Kerman blast: Around 100 people were killed and nearly 300 injured in two explosions at a cemetery in the southern city of Kerman on 3 January, at an event marking the fourth anniversary of IRGC Quds force leader Qasem Soleimani’s death in a United States drone strike.

Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani made a number of changes to his cabinet on 8 January, less than a year after his last major overhaul to the executive team. Among the most significant changes was the promotion of minister of state for foreign affairs Sultan Bin Saad Al-Muraikhi to the cabinet. 

UAE attorney-general Hamad Saif Al-Shamsi said on 6 January that a case had been launched at the State Security Court against 84 people.

Emir Meshaal Al-Ahmed’s appointee as prime minister is a former ambassador to the US, who served in government for a decade from 2001, before resigning over a corruption scandal.

Shortly after taking his oath of office on 20 December, new Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Mishaal Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah used his speech to the National Assembly to complain that MPs and the government had “harmed the interests of the country”. Mishaal also criticised a series of pardons by this predecessor, the late Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, pointing to a potentially significant shift in style at the top in Kuwait – if the new emir’s forthright words prove more than PR.

GSN looks at some of the main contenders to be nominated as the heir apparent by incoming Emir Sheikh Mishaal Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. Selection of another older generation crown prince is the likely outcome.