Connectivity

Now entering its fourth week, the US-Israeli war on Iran has done something that years of regional tension and diplomatic manoeuvring failed to bring about: it has made the Gulf states' vulnerabilities visible to the world. Writing for the Arab Center in Washington, Kristian Coates Ulrichsen described the attacks on Gulf civilian and energy infrastructure as the most serious and sustained threats to the physical security of the GCC states since the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait in 1990–91. This is a measure of how quickly the regional order has been upended. On the first day of the war, Iranian missiles and drones struck not only military facilities hosting US forces but also hotels, energy infrastructure, and international airports across Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Dubai, and Kuwait. (Read the full article by clicking on the image above.)