Houthi rebels have continued committing crimes against the Yemeni people since they seized power in 2015. Their latest crime was issuing death sentences against 17 Yemenis, prompting strong international condemnation from government officials and human rights organizations. The group also sentenced three other Yemenis — a woman and two men — to prison terms ranging from three to 10 years in trials described as a “sham” and based primarily on confessions extracted under torture, according to human rights groups. Local and international human rights organizations maintain that the Houthi-controlled Specialized Criminal Court in Sanaa, which issued the death sentences, has…
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To deepen relations between Jordan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and coordinate positions on security and peace initiatives in the region, Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Ayman Safadi visited Abu Dhabi in December 2025. Safadi met with His Highness Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs. They discussed ways to strengthen bilateral relations and security developments in the region. Discussions included developments in Gaza. They emphasized the need to adhere to the ceasefire agreement and fully implement its provisions according to the plan of United…
Under the patronage of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, the 19th edition of the Dubai Airshow confirmed its place as one of the world’s leading aviation exhibitions. Attendance for the five-day air show in November 2025 exceeded 200,000. Exhibitors from the aviation, aerospace and defense industries totaled about 1,500 from 115 countries. VIPs from around the world, representing airlines, military manufacturers, suppliers and government entities, as well as a wide range of public and aviation professionals, flocked to Dubai to take part in this world-class air show. The United…
Pakistani counterterrorism forces have ramped up the frequency and lethality of counterterrorism operations in areas along the country’s western border with Afghanistan. This mountainous region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces and neighboring Afghanistan is inhabited by terrorist groups such as ISIS-Khorasan, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and al-Qaida. Terrorist attacks intensified in 2024 and 2025 against Pakistani civilians and security personnel alike. Pakistan’s Armed Forces, led by Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir, is determined to restore security to the region. In late 2025, two senior TTP commanders and two others were killed by Pakistani forces in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.…
At a security summit in the United States in January 2026, senior leaders from the Lebanese Armed Forces updated U.S. military leadership about progress toward disarming nonstate actors and reinforcing national sovereignty. The Lebanese government is working to disarm the Iranian-backed Hezbollah pursuant to the ceasefire agreement signed by Lebanon and Israel and brokered by the United States and France in November 2024. When signing the ceasefire agreement, the Lebanese government pledged to disarm Hezbollah, first in southern Lebanon and then in the rest of the country, by the end of 2025. Recent polls show that the overwhelming majority of…
Uzbekistan hosted one of the most extensive military exercises in the history of the Central Asian region, capping the October 2025 event with the first summit of all five Central Asian defense ministers. Birlik-2025, which ran for a week, brought together Soldiers from Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan and Azerbaijan at the Kattakurgan training ground near Samarkand and at more than 20 other training sites across Uzbekistan. Birlik means unity. The multiphase training aimed to improve interoperability, tactical coordination and combat readiness among joint forces, with a focus on counterterrorism and defensive operations. The drills used computer modeling and simulation…
Special forces troops from Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Qatar, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Türkiye merged their strengths at the Eternal Brotherhood-IV military exercises in September 2025. The training was designed to enhance military cooperation, strengthen regional security and bolster strategic partnerships among the participating militaries in the face of evolving security challenges such as terrorism. Forging interoperability among diverse participants, each with their own unique capabilities, was the predominant aim of the extensive and varied exercise scenarios. These included combat tactics, search and rescue operations, and operational coordination. For example, NATO member Türkiye has broad military experience in both combat operations and peacekeeping…
The Sultanate of Oman continues its diplomatic efforts to de-escalate tensions in the Middle East, promoting dialogue, international law and peaceful negotiation as foundations for regional security and stability. Demonstrating such an approach, a Royal Oman Air Force jet flew 11 mariners held by the Yemeni Houthi terrorist group from Sanaa to Muscat in December 2025. The Houthis had held the sailors since the rebels attacked their ship, the Greek-operated Eternity C, in the Red Sea in July 2025. The ship sank after the Houthis attacked with drones and rocket-propelled grenades, killing four crew members. The freed sailors were greeted…
The government of Kazakhstan expressed its intent to join the Abraham Accords, a series of diplomatic normalization agreements between Israel and nations in the region. The accords, brokered by the United States in 2020 and originally signed by Bahrain, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and soon after by Morocco, is named for Abraham, the biblical patriarch shared by Christianity, Islam and Judaism. It is meant to cultivate peace among the three religions. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev reportedly reached out to U.S. President Donald Trump expressing a desire to join this historic peace process, and Kazakhstan’s official accession was announced at the…
In a historic visit to the United States in November 2025, Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister His Royal Highness Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud received a formal military welcaome ceremony at the White House. The one-day official visit culminated in the finalization of several landmark agreements on arms sales, civil nuclear cooperation, artificial intelligence and critical minerals. Saudi Arabia also earned the designation as a Major Non-NATO Ally (MNNA) of the United States. MNNA status provides a U.S. partner with military and economic advantages such as access to U.S. defense technologies, joint military training and easier arms procurement. Additionally,…