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

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United Arab Emirates

August 15, 2026

Abu Dhabi 5:21 am

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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

Chairman of the House Armed Forces Committee Adam Smith (D-WA) awaits the arrival of Acting U.S. Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford to testify on the Fiscal Year 2020 National Defense Budget Request from the Department of Defense on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., March 26, 2019. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts - RC1BF79E5F30

Intel: Key Democrat says Yemen war restrictions 'on the table' in major defense bill

House Armed Services Chairman Adam Smith, D-Wash., told Al-Monitor today that Democrats are considering renewing last year’s push to cut off US support to the Saudi-led coalition that is fighting Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels as part of Congress’ annual defense authorization bill.

20,000 Pakistanis in UAE stranded by coronavirus lockdown

Travel restrictions aimed at stemming the spread of the novel coronavirus have left thousands of Pakistanis stranded in the United Arab Emirates.

United Arab Emirates

Battle for air supremacy heats up in Libya despite COVID-19 outbreak

The warring parties in Libya are locked in a battle to gain the upper hand in the skies, the outcome of which will determine who grabs the strategic advantage in the conflict.

Riyadh Agreement at risk of collapse in southern Yemen

Tensions flare between Saudi and UAE aligned forces.

A man sprays disinfectant to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), inside Jaramana Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus, Syria April 1, 2020. Picture taken April 1, 2020. REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki - RC29WF9SNKKP

How the pandemic, plummeting oil prices could reshape Middle East

COVID-19 will weaken fragile states, raising risk of failure but creating openings for diplomacy.

A general view of Business Bay area, after a curfew was imposed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, March 28, 2020. REUTERS/Satish Kumar - RC2VSF94JGLQ

How COVID-19 will change GCC labor markets

A siren is blaring for local labor markets as the global pandemic and falling oil revenues begin to upend the Gulf states' economies.

Dubai propping up Emirates airline with fresh capital amid coronavirus travel slump

With nearly all of its flights grounded, Dubai’s Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Rashid Al Maktoum plans to inject equity into Emirates airline to keep it afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic.

United Arab Emirates

A soldier walks at the site of a Houthi missile attack on a military campís mosque in Marib, Yemen January 20, 2020. REUTERS/Ali Owidha - RC2OJE90YU7S

Coronavirus cease-fire offers pause in Yemen war

Despite a cease-fire among the parties to Yemen's civil war, the Saudi-led coalition announced it had downed three Houthi drones.

Intel: US conducts separate military drills with UAE, Israel despite coronavirus

United Arab Emirates

Artists reflect on age of anxiety in Sharjah

A group of contemporary artists explore the ways everyday technologies have altered our collective consciousness and created the age of anxiety, but the exhibit in Sharjah has been postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak.

United Arab Emirates

People wear protective face masks, following the outbreak of coronavirus, as they sit in a metro in Tehran, Iran March 17, 2020. WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Ali Khara via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY - RC2PLF9NILL2

Coronavirus spurs regional humanitarian outreach to Iran

The UAE, Kuwait and Qatar provide help to Coronavirus-stricken Iran, while there is talk that the United States could ease the way for aid to Iran while Iran released American prisoners who could be prime COVID-19 targets.

United Arab Emirates

ISTANBUL, TURKEY - OCTOBER 21: President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during TRT World Forum 2019, held under main theme of "Globalization in Retreat: Risks and Opportunities" in Istanbul, Turkey on October 21, 2019. (Photo by Murat Kula/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Turkey’s public broadcaster registers as foreign agent

TRT's registration comes as the Donald Trump administration has been pressing state broadcasters to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

United Arab Emirates