Search results

Navy base expansion, Calls for security agreements with Iran, Waha Capital raises funds for military, Rifles order,

Coronavirus threats: Yemen remains one of the few countries in the world not to have reported any cases of coronavirus, as of 31 March, according to the World Health Organisation. However, both the government of Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and the Houthi rebels have been introducing measures to try and prevent the global pandemic consuming the country. Among the steps to date, in late March the Hadi government closed ports of entry and, in the city of Taiz, shut shopping malls, mosques, wedding halls and qat markets.

A flurry of diplomatic missions to Algiers during November emphasised the strengthening trade and investment bonds within the Middle East and North Africa region: defence deals were on the agenda.

Watching Tehran: President Donald Trump provoked a diplomatic storm on 4 February when he said US forces needed to stay in Iraq to ‘keep an eye on Iran’. Speaking to the CBS Face the Nation programme, Trump said “one of the reasons I want to keep” the Ain Al-Asad airbase in western Iraq “is because I want to be looking a little bit at Iran, because Iran is a real problem.” The comments were condemned by leading figures in Iraq, including President Barham Saleh who said it would deviate from the 2008 US-Iraq Strategic Framework Agreement.

Qatar Petroleum (QP) has signed a number of large supply deals with customers in Asia, after announcing plans for a substantial rise in liquified natural gas (LNG) production. On 3 October, QP signed two five-year sales agreement to supply Japan’s Marubeni Corporation with 1.2 million metric tons of naphtha a year, starting from this month. The deal was announced in Tokyo, during a visit by QP chief executive Saad Bin Sherida Al-Kaabi. They are the largest and longest-running such deals between the two companies, which have been trading naptha since 1986.

That King Fahd’s youngest son Abdelaziz leads an extravagant lifestyle will be no surprise to GSN readers. By many accounts, he was the late monarch’s favourite child and was once named the world’s richest teenager. But some interesting details have emerged through the account of a stewardess on one of the prince’s planes, published on the Burlington, North Carolina-based Times News site.

Another major shift in the geopolitics and military direction of the Syrian conflict seemed to have been recorded when, on 16 August, Russian Tu-22M3 long-range bombers and Su-34 strike fighters used the Shahid Nojeh airbase, 50km north of Hamedan in western Iran, to hit Islamic State (IS or Daesh) and Jabhat Fateh Al-Sham (formerly known as Jabhat Al-Nusra) arms depots, command posts and training camps in Aleppo, Deir Ez-Zor and Idlib provinces. It was the first time Iran had allowed another country’s forces to use it as a base for military operations since the 1979 revolution and emphasised President Vladimir Putin’s growing domination of the regional agenda.

In a widely anticipated move, the cabinet submitted its resignation to Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah on 30 October, after less than a year in office. Prime minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah and his ministers have been asked to stay on in a caretaker capacity until a new cabinet is appointed. This could take several weeks, but the process began quickly after emir on 1 November reappointed Sheikh Jaber as head of government.

The latest round has encouraged optimists and confounded those who predicted another flop. If IOCs are able to meet their commitments, Iraq will emerge as the number two OPEC exporter

Committed to Israel, worried about Iran and with huge business interests at stake, the US can’t just pull out of the Middle East as many Americans would like. But strategic shifts apparent for several years will be accelerated as the superpower rethinks its political and commercial alignments.

Ras Al-Khaimah (RAK) remains bound up in a range of US and UK court cases related to past business dealings, undermining the hopes of Ruler Sheikh Saud Bin Saqr Al-Qassimi of taking the northern emirate towards a period of more stable governance and greater prosperity by exploiting its potential for tourism and other ventures. Sheikh Saud has sought to improve RAK’s reputation by promoting improved governance initiatives, including beefing up the due diligence efforts of the Ras Al-Khaimah Free Trade Zone Authority (RAKFTZA) by retaining a major international law firm.

RAK Ruler Sheikh Saud Bin Saqr on 6 February performed the funeral prayer for Rashid Ali Al-Duhouri, a soldier killed in Operation Restoring Hope in Yemen. The death toll from the Saudi-led coalition operations in Yemen has been particularly high for RAK, which has accounted for the largest number of dead even though it is one of the smaller emirates by population.

A British court has ruled that two Saudi royals involved in litigation in London over a business dispute do not have immunity from being sued. Allegiance Commission head Prince Mishaal Bin Abdelaziz and his son Prince Abdelaziz were seeking immunity as members of the Al-Saud. Their lawyers argued that they travelled on diplomatic passports and undertook duties for King Abdullah, and so should be entitled to sovereign immunity.

The United States Department of State has approved close to $9.5bn-worth of military sales to its Gulf allies, including $7bn-worth of helicopters to the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Forty-eight Chinook CH-47F cargo helicopters will be sold to Saudi Arabia, along with related training, support and equipment such as engines and machine guns. The total value of the package is $3.51bn. The helicopters will be used by the Royal Saudi Land Forces’ aviation command.

Amid criticism from Washington and other capitals, Saudi Arabia announced on 22 November it would relax its air, land and sea blockade of Yemen, enabling a handful of aid agencies to attend to the desperate humanitarian situation in the country. The United Nations has warned of “famine-like conditions” and the World Food Programme (WFP) estimates 17m Yemenis (60% of the population) are food insecure, 6.8m of them severely so.