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Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi shows no sign of relenting in his campaign to totally subjugate the Muslim Brotherhood, despite suggestions Saudi Arabia’s King Salman Bin Abdelaziz has asked him to take a softer line. The current administration in Cairo believes the Brotherhood poses a fundamental threat; this view is behind the brutal suppression of the organisation, which is unprecedentedly harsh, even by Egyptian standards. The security forces have rooted out suspected supporters from public life and from within their own ranks.

Nema Al-Busaidi (Seeb) was the only one of 77 female candidates elected to the Majlis Al-Shura in the October elections.  The government may well be disappointed, but it is an improvement on 2007, when 20 women stood but were unsuccessful. 

The US Treasury sanctioned suspected Hizbollah commander Ali Mussa Daqduq on 19 November, saying he was responsible for numerous attacks against coalition forces in Iraq, including one which killed five US soldiers in Karbala in January 2007. The decision came just three days after Daqduq was freed by Iraqi authorities, following a court acquittal earlier this year. On his release, Daqduq flew to Lebanon.

Minister of state for defence affairs Major General Hamad Bin Ali Al-Attiyah held talks with visiting French defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and a delegation on 22 September. It provided an opportunity for Major General Ahmed Ibrahim Al-Maliki and Brigadier General Pascal Roux to sign the technical protocol for a joint training programme. Also present were Qatar Armed Forces chief of staff Major General Ghanim Bin Shaheen Al-Ghanim and French ambassador Eric Chevallier.

The intense competition for influence among Gulf states and other regional players continues apace in the Horn of Africa, with potentially billions of dollars in financial support and investment flowing from the UAE and Saudi Arabia into Sudan, Ethiopia and their neighbours. But as the network of military bases and ports along the coast of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden gets ever more substantial, criticism of Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) states’ impact on the region is also growing.

Still convalescing in Morocco, Crown Prince Sultan Bin Abdelaziz has had visits at his Agadir palace from Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Egypt urgently needs funds and Qatar is willing to invest, as its mega-rich and politically savvy leaders look for opportunities both to make money and to shore up its position as central to a changing Arab world.

Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah flew to England on 8 August on a private visit, accompanied by his brother, deputy chief of the National Guard Sheikh Mishaal Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. The emir often spends time in London; in 2013, he was in both the United States and the UK in a private capacity from late August until early October. His trip to the UK followed a visit to Mongolia, where he arrived on 28 July, also on a private visit. While in Mongolia, he received the speaker of Mongolia’s Great Khural, Zandaakhuugiin Enkhbold, at his residence on 6 August.

Concern over sectarian tension increases as the predominantly Shia unlicensed opposition formally establishes itself. However, both unlicensed and licensed opposition members have told GSN that such fears are unjustified

Samsung Engineering and Alcoa Inc have reached a “settlement in principle” over a complaint the Korean firm filed in March against the aluminium producer, which sought $202m in damages, according to recent filings at the District Court for the Southern District of New York. The settlement, once finalised, will result in the dismissal of the action with prejudice (which means the case is over forever).

Asma Arian, the German wife of Sheikh Talal Bin Abdelaziz Bin Ahmed Bin Ali Al-Thani, has sent an appeal on behalf of her husband to the United Nations special rapporteur on torture Nils Melzer. In a video released on Twitter on 15 April, she said the urgent appeal had been submitted on 12 March. Arian claims Sheikh Talal has been in jail in Qatar for seven years, is being held in “extremely harsh conditions” and the mistreatment has put his life in serious danger. She claims he has been denied access to medical care and to his family and lawyer.

Iraq has nominated former oil minister Thamer Al Ghadban as next secretary general of Opec, according to a government spokesman.

Bahrain has begun a second phase of compensation payments totalling around $6m to the families of 35 people killed during the 2011 uprising. The payments relate to deaths described in detail in the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) report, whose recommendations Manama has been under pressure to implement.

King Salman Bin Abdelaziz dismissed health minister Ahmed Bin Aqeel Al-Khatib on 10 April, and appointed minister of state Mohammed Bin Abdelmalik Al Al-Sheikh acting health minister. No reason was given for the royal decree, but it followed the posting online of a video in which Al-Khatib was seen to be having an argument with a citizen. Al Arabiya, generally seen as close to the Saudi government, said the brief video clip showed Al-Khatib dismissing the citizen, who wanted his father moved to a private hospital in Riyadh, and that Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS), son of the king and chief of the royal court.

One key bellwether of Qatari intentions is the fate of Egyptian cleric and Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader Yusuf Al-Qaradawi. He has been a resident in Doha for decades, helping Qatar draw for itself an Islamic identity separate from its traditionally overbearing Saudi neighbour. Qatar’s indigenous class of religious scholars belong to the Wahhabi school of Salafi thought, beholden to Saudi Arabia and puritanical in its thought and practice, but Qaradawi and his followers functioned as a moderating influence on the population and the clerics. Qaradawi helped Doha establish its own religious identity and prevent its ulama from evolving into a class completely under the thumb of Riyadh-based peers.