Amid the escalating U.S.-Israeli War on Iran and the continued strikes on Gulf countries that followed, the latter have turned toward Ukraine—a country exhausted by four years of war with Russia.

In a matter of days, Dubai’s long-standing image as a stable, untouchable hub has been shaken, exposing how quickly its economy can be undermined when confidence—the foundation it relies on—begins to erode.

The remote Benishangul-Gumuz region in western Ethiopia has quietly become a strategic UAE-backed base training thousands of fighters for Sudan’s RSF militias, with logistics, equipment, and instructors flowing directly from Abu Dhabi.

Al-Estiklal tracks the cyber war between Egypt and the UAE, revealing the Emirati funding of online committees and how Cairo-Abu Dhabi tensions exposed efforts to sabotage Egypt’s revolution.

Abu Dhabi’s newest sovereign wealth fund, L’IMAD Holding, is taking control of its peer ADQ, the government media office announced Friday, claiming a major consolidation that would create a new investment powerhouse in the emirate under the crown prince.