United Arab Emirates - AL-MONITOR: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

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United Arab Emirates

August 14, 2026

Abu Dhabi 8:52 pm

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port attack

Hormuz traffic sinks to one-week low as ships attacked, talks stagnate

The United States and Yemen's Houthi rebels carried out separate attacks on commercial ships on Tuesday in the Gulf of Oman and the Red Sea.

Building construction at the Red Sea in Egypt.

Explainer

UAE-Egypt ties keep growing as Cairo navigates shifting Gulf landscape

An Emirati investor could soon strike a $2.7 billion deal to develop another tourism project on Egypt's North Coast, the latest in a string of UAE-linked pacts that have continued advancing despite turmoil from the US-Iran war.

Latest News

Analysis

Amid realignment with Egypt, Turkey steps up support for Sudan’s Burhan

Sudan's de facto leader and armed forces chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan greets supporters in Port Sudan, Dec. 29, 2024.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Oil jumps 8% as US-Iran war pressures Saudi Arabia, explosions hit Egypt

A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on July 24, 2026, in New York.

Analysis

How Gulf banks are absorbing Iran war shocks

A man counts Saudi riyal banknotes in the capital, Riyadh, Oct. 3, 2016.

In Bristol, reporting on regional business, climate change, AI, tech

Samuel Wendel

Senior Market Research Analyst

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Adam Lucente

News and Business Correspondent

In New York City, reporting on regional news, militancy, climate change

Jack Dutton

Chief Business Correspondent

In Bristol, reporting on regional business, climate change, AI, tech

Sabena Siddiqui

In Karachi, reporting on South Asia, Middle East, Iran

Vanessa Ghanem

In Dubai, reporting on business, energy and politics

Mohammed Soliman

In Washington, DC, reporting on Gulf politics

A man reads a copy of UAE-based The National newspaper near the Burj Khalifa, the tallest structure and building in the world since 2009, in the gulf emirate of Dubai on August 14, 2020, as the publication's headline reflects the previous day's news as Israel and the UAE agreed to normalise relations in a landmark US-brokered deal. - The deal marks only the third such accord the Jewish state has struck with an Arab nation, an historic shift making the Gulf state only the third Arab country to establish full

Oman says it supports UAE-Israel normalization of ties

Israeli officials told the local press they are in talks with Oman to reach a similar normalization in ties.

United Arab Emirates

A file picture taken at the Israeli foreign ministry on October 15, 2015, shows Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) sitting next to Yossi Cohen, who is currently the head of Israel's National Security Council, and who was named as the 12th head of the Mossad intelligence agency by Netanyahu on December 7, 2015. Cohen will take over from outgoing Mossad head Tamir Pardo, who will be leaving his post after five years next January. AFP PHOTO / GALI TIBBON / AFP / GALI TIBBON (Photo credit should read

Mossad chief likely to continue advancing Israel, UAE contacts

Israel has plenty of professional diplomats specialized in the Arab world, yet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is relying on Mossad chief Yossi Cohen to advance ties with Gulf states.

United Arab Emirates

TOPSHOT - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a cabinet meeting of the new government at Chagall State Hall in the Knesset (Israeli parliament) in Jerusalem on May 24, 2020. (Photo by ABIR SULTAN / POOL / AFP) (Photo by ABIR SULTAN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Did Netanyahu find his legacy with UAE deal?

The announcement yesterday on normalizing ties between Israel and the United Arab Emirates reflects Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s realization that he must abandon his annexation plan.

United Arab Emirates

Palestinians express anger at UAE following US-brokered accord with Israel

Palestinians say UAE decision to normalize relations with Israel is a crime.

United Arab Emirates

LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 11: Large scale models of Etihad Boeing 787 Dream Liners are displayed near Terminal Four at Heathrow Airport on August 11, 2014 in London, England. Heathrow is the busiest airport in the United Kingdom and the third busiest in the world. The airport's operator BAA wants to build a third runway to cope with increased demand. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)

Etihad cancels Shanghai flights following positive virus tests

Future travelers to the Chinese city will have to comply with stricter regulations from the Abu Dhabi-based airline.

United Arab Emirates

Dubai welcomes Lebanese residents with flowers, message of hope

Following last week’s deadly explosion in the Lebanese capital of Beirut, Dubai greeted its Lebanese residents at the airport with white roses.

United Arab Emirates

State Department legally skirted Congress freeze on Saudi arms sales, inquiry finds

An inspector general's report redacted by the State Department says that while the department found ways to legally bypass congressional restrictions on arms sales to Saudi Arabia, measures that Congress had called for were not taken.

A passengers of an Emirates airlines flight departing to the Australian city of Sydney, receives a box of masks and gloves at Dubai International Airport on May 22, 2020, after the resumption of scheduled operations by the Emirati carrier, amid the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic crisis. (Photo by Karim SAHIB / AFP) (Photo by KARIM SAHIB/AFP via Getty Images)

Emirates to require negative COVID-19 test for transit passengers

The United Arab Emirates already required people entering the country to test negative for the coronavirus, but now the rule has been extended to all connecting travel on the Emirates airline.

United Arab Emirates

WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 15: (AFP-OUT) U.S. President Donald Trump welcomes Crown Prince Shaikh Mohammad bin Zayed Al Nahyan of Abu Dhabi in the Oval Office of the White House on May 15, 2017 in Washington, DC. Shaikh Mohammad is on a two-day visit to the U.S. (Photo by Chris Kleponis-Pool/Getty Images)

Intel: Trump, MBZ talk ridding Libya of proxy fighters

During a phone call Tuesday, the US president and Abu Dhabi’s crown prince discussed diffusing the Libyan crisis as a new battle looms in the strategic city of Sirte.

United Arab Emirates

An employee works at the control room of the Mars Mission at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC), in the Gulf emirate of Dubai. - The oil-rich United Arab Emirates has built a nuclear power programme and sent a man to space, and now plans to join another elite club by sending a probe to Mars.
Only the United States, India, the former Soviet Union, and the European Space Agency have successfully sent missions to orbit the Red Planet, while China is preparing to launch its first Mars rover later this

UAE Mars mission again delayed due to weather

The Hope probe is now scheduled to launch Monday from Japan.

United Arab Emirates

First series of Fight Island UFC events wraps up in Abu Dhabi

Several fighters of Middle Eastern heritage competed in the event without fans in the Emirati city on Sunday.

United Arab Emirates

A member of staff checks the temperature of a tourist at the Mandarin Oriental Jumeira on July 9, 2020 in the Gulf emirate of Dubai. - With a "welcome" passport sticker and coronavirus tests on arrival, Dubai reopened its doors to international visitors this week in the hope of reviving its tourism industry after a nearly four-month closure. (Photo by KARIM SAHIB / AFP) (Photo by KARIM SAHIB/AFP via Getty Images)

Emirates resumes more international flights as restrictions ease

The addition of flights to Los Angeles, Dar es Salaam and other destinations follows the resumption of tourism to Dubai.

United Arab Emirates