Qatar’s emir poised to cede power to son

Source: Al Bawaba (Read full story)

Crown Prince Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad, 33, is set to be Qatar’s next emir, Al Bawaba Arabic reported. Hamad is the son of current emir Khalifa Al Thani. Previous news reports have stated that the father and current incumbent Al Thani, 61, has been suffering from health problems for some time. Meanwhile, Hamad’s cousin, Sheikh Hamad Bin Jasem, is expected to step down as prime minister. Jasem, however, will stay on with the Qatar Investment Authority, which manages wealth that recycles gas revenues. He will also continue his role with UK’s retail darling, Harrods. According to the Daily Telegraph, the United States and Iran were briefed on the succession earlier this year.

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Gulf countries may place Hezbollah on terror list

Source: Kuwait Times (Read full story)

Gulf Arab states will consider placing Lebanon’s Shiite party Hezbollah, which is openly involved in the Syrian conflict, on its terror list, Al-Rai daily quoted highly placed diplomats yesterday as saying. Bahrain will ask foreign ministers of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council to discuss “placing Hezbollah on the terror list” at a meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Sunday, the newspaper said. Bahrain currently holds the GCC’s rotating presidency. The paper did not say whether this referred to the party as a whole or just its militia, whose men are fighting alongside government troops in a fierce battle to retake the Syrian town of Qusayr from rebels.

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GCC Foreign Ministers to meet in Jeddah

Source: Khaleej Times (Read full story)

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Al-Zayani added that the GCC Ministerial Council will review issues related to the progress of GCC joint action in all fields. The Secretary General said that the meeting will be preceded by a joint meeting with GCC Ministers of Finance and Economy, noting that the council will discuss a number of memoranda and reports referred by the ministerial committees, especially those related to strategic dialogues, negotiations between the GCC and economic blocs, as well as other topics related to regional, Arab and International conditions of concern to the GCC.

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Major Saudi firms in Forbes Top 500 list

Source: Arab News (Read full story)

With the support of Sheikh Nahyan Mabarak Al Nahyan, the UAE’s minister for culture, youth and community development, Forbes Middle East hosted a prestigious event at Ritz Carlton, Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, in recognition of The Top 500 Companies in the Arab World and The Top 100 Making an Impact.
The event, which included an exclusive award ceremony and gala dinner, was attended by senior government officials, top executives from various business sectors, and an array of other high profile guests. The event was also graced by the presence of Nasser bin Aqeel Al-Tayyar, president of Arab Publisher House, who welcomed Sheikh Nahayan along with other dignitaries.

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Cabinet ministers resign amid standoff with MPs

Source: Kuwait Times (Read full story)

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The new developments came amid reports that the Assembly might be dissolved just a month before a June 16 crucial ruling by the constitutional court on the controversial amendment of the electoral law. But a number of MPs ruled out the possibility, saying they expected the Amir to issue a decree to suspend the Assembly for one month, based on a clause in the constitution. The measure will give just enough time for the ruling to be issued while the Assembly is not in session. Among many possibilities, the court could declare the electoral law amendment as unconstitutional, which will mean forcing the Assembly’s dissolution and calling for fresh elections.

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US-led action in Syria would empower Iran, not weaken it

Source: The National (Read full story)

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The Iranian leadership has a successful track record of emerging as the winner whenever a sovereign state in the Middle East experiences instability, civil war or foreign intervention. For instance, the protracted civil war in Lebanon created a ripe environment for Iranian leaders to give birth to one of the strongest non-state actors in the region, Hizbollah. Also, after the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, Iranian leaders were immediately able to help create a powerful Shiite proxy in Iraq – the Mahdi Army – as well as coordinate with Shiite leaders to infiltrate Iraqi governmental affairs. The Iranian leadership and Revolutionary Guard’s strategies are characterised not by public or foreign interventions, but by clandestine investments in local, community-based, organised groups that empower a proxy capable of fighting not only regional governments but world powers.

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UAE denounces Iran lawmakers’ visit to islands

Source: Khaleej Times (Read full story)

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Meanwhile, the Federal National Council has expressed condemnation and denunciation of the visit made recently by a delegation from Iran’s Shura Council to the three occupied UAE Islands of Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa. In a statement issued today, the FNC said the policy of ‘Fait accompli’ practiced by Iran to perpetuate its occupation of UAE’s islands would not change historical and legal facts that confirm UAE sovereignty over the islands, and their territorial waters, airspace, continental shelf and exclusive economic zone, as being an integral part of the UAE. Condemning the Iranian Shura Council’s, the FNC denounced the Iranian provocative acts which constitutes a flagrant violation of the sovereignty of the United Arab Emirates over its territory and undermines all efforts for a peaceful settlement to end the Iranian occupation of the islands.

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Prince Turki on Saudi Arabia’s Role after Arab Awakening

Source: Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs (Read full story)

Prince Turki Al Faisal of Saudi Arabia, chairman of the King Faisal Center for Research & Islamic Studies, delivered an address at the Harvard Kennedy School titled Saudi Arabia’s New Foreign Policy Doctrine in the aftermath of the Arab Awakening. The talk on April 25, 2013 was the culmination of a daylong workshop on Saudi Arabia hosted by the school’s Middle East Initiative in the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.

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