While so much attention is focused on Israel’s war in Gaza and its shockwaves across the Middle East, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government is steadily reintegrating into the Arab world, despite still being shunned by the West as a pariah. Since Syria made its full-fledged return to the Arab League in May 2023, when Assad...
Since Nov. 2023, tensions between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF)—commanded by Gen. Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan—and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have risen. On Nov. 27, Lt. Gen. Yasser Al-Atta, the assistant commander-in-chief of the SAF, criticized the UAE for behaving like a “mafia state” in a speech at a military headquarters. Less than two weeks later, authorities in...
Having repeatedly sided with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) over Iran in a long-standing dispute regarding three Gulf islands, Moscow appears to be risking its ties with Tehran. The Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb, and Abu Musa islands in the Strait of Hormuz were taken over by Iran in 1971 after British forces withdrew from the UAE following the country’s...
Gulf heavyweights view the conflict as an opportunity to cement their hegemonic status in the Middle East. Fighting in Sudan, now in its third month, shows no signs of abating. The country’s two rival generals have flouted multiple cease-fires as they vie for control. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who first gained power after the 2019 ousting...
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates often have seemed like two sides of the same coin, to western eyes at least: two powerful, oil-rich monarchies, both allies of the United States and avid consumers of American weapons, united in their determination to maintain regional security and stability on their terms and in cooperation with...
Saudi Arabia and UAE’s rivalry intensifies in race for foreign investments. The two Gulf neighbors have reached the point where they are enacting laws that contravene their common Gulf Cooperation Council goals. Intense competition between Gulf Cooperation Council members and geographical neighbors Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to attract foreign investments and foreign billionaires has...
‘Stay silent on human rights to strike deals, Gulf states tell UK’, 13 March 2023 “Shut up about human rights if you want to make deals in the Middle East. That’s the warning from a gulf state minister ahead of trade negotiations due to begin Monday, as Britain seeks to deepen economic ties in the...