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Dubai Ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum led the way on prisoner pardons ahead of the UAE’s 52nd National Day on 2 December, ordering 1,249 inmates to be freed from the emirate’s prisons on 29 November. UAE President Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan released a further 1,018 prisoners.

Published in December 2023, this map of Yemen includes governorate boundaries, roads, oil and gas fields and pipelines as well as oil refineries, tanker terminals, gas processing plants, LNG liquefaction plant and export terminals.  This map also shows military areas of control as well as the location of recent attacks on shipping and suspicious activity towards vessels which has been reported. The map is available as a PDF file using eps graphics, meaning that there is no loss of resolution as the file is enlarged. 

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.

The late Emir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah is unlikely to be remembered as one of Kuwait’s defining leaders, but he was an affable, honest man who was called upon to navigate a difficult political environment.

Royal Saudi Air Force pilot Prince Talal Bin Abdelaziz Bin Bandar Al-Saud died on 7 December, the same day an RSAF F-15 crashed in Dhahran.

Saudi Arabia is due to bring in a new legal framework for businesses in mid-December. The Civil Transactions Law sets out a new code for property rights, financial transactions and other contracts. 

Vice President Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan launched the Bani Yas corvette on 29 November at the Mina Zayed naval base in Abu Dhabi.

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.

Tehran has released Spanish football fan Santiago Sanchez after 15 months in custody, but at least ten other Europeans are thought to be held in Iran, including Swedish national Johan Floderus. Critics accuse Tehran of using them as leverage to secure the release of Iranian officials convicted in Europe.

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.

The issue leads with the response to the Houthis’ campaign against commercial shipping in the Red Sea, with Arab states pushing for Israel to end its bombardment of Gaza while trying to ensure the war doesn’t escalate into a regional conflagration. The issue also focuses on Kuwait, where new Emir Sheikh Mishaal Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah has set a forthright tone to his rule by criticising the government and members of parliament (MPs), and distancing himself from pardons issued under his late predecessor Sheikh Nawaf Emir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. GSN also takes a closer look at Sharjah, which is looking to upgrade its infrastructure and increase capacity at its airport with a record budget worth $11bn announced for 2024. The independently-minded emirate has stood out among its UAE peers in its attitude to the Israel-Palestine conflict and much else. GSN's coverage includes a new Al-Qasimi family tree.      

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.

The European Union has sanctioned two UAE-based companies over commercial and military ties to Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces, while a leaked United Nations expert report says evidence of UAE arms supplies to the rebel RSF are ‘credible’.

The deal by which Edge Group is acquiring International Golden Group brings two of the UAE’s biggest defence equipment suppliers together under one roof.

The “Deal of the Century” has finally emerged, with typically Trumpian braggadocio, several Gulf ambassadors and embattled Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in attendance. This was countered by muted defiance from the aging Palestinian Authority (PA) leadership and a flurry of rockets from Hamas in Gaza, to which Israel predictably responded in kind.