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Diplomatic circles across the United States and the Arab world are buzzing with analysis after United Arab Emirates President Mohamed bin Zayed made an unusual direct communication to 90-year-old King Salman of Saudi Arabia, a move widely interpreted as a deliberate effort to bypass the kingdom’s de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known universally as MBS.

Multiple Saudi and Emirati media outlets confirmed the outreach on Monday, confirming that the UAE leader sent a handwritten letter delivered via the UAE’s ambassador to Riyadh, Mater Salem Ali Marran al-Dhaheri, to Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Waleed Elkhereiji. Saudi reports note the correspondence addressed the current state of bilateral relations between the two neighboring Gulf monarchies, while the UAE’s official state news agency WAM framed it primarily as a personal invitation for King Salman to attend a United Nations-sponsored water conference hosted in Abu Dhabi this coming December.

For regional analysts and Gulf affairs watchers, the unconventional outreach is a clear reflection of the increasingly fragile relationship between MBS and his Emirati counterpart, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed. One anonymous Western official with direct knowledge of the diplomatic dynamic told Middle East Eye, “The Emiratis felt they had no other option than to go straight to the top.” The official added that MBS, who has held effective day-to-day control over Saudi governance for nearly a decade, is expected to take umbrage at the bypassing tactic.

King Salman ascended to the Saudi throne in 2015 following the passing of his half-brother King Abdullah, but age has greatly reduced his public and diplomatic activity in recent years. The monarch rarely travels outside Saudi borders, with his last confirmed international public appearance dating back to a 2019 Arab League Summit in Tunisia. All major decision-making and high-level diplomatic representation now falls to MBS, who just completed a high-profile two-day visit to Paris where he met with French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss bilateral trade agreements and regional security issues across the Middle East.

This is not the first time a foreign government has attempted to communicate directly with King Salman outside MBS’s established diplomatic channels, but the timing of the letter is particularly significant: it comes amid steadily growing friction between the two major oil-rich Gulf powers, who were once considered close and coordinated allies. Tensions between the pair boiled over into open conflict earlier this year, when Saudi military forces carried out airstrikes on secessionist factions in Yemen that are backed by the UAE. The disagreement has spread to another regional conflict, with Riyadh and Abu Dhabi backing opposing armed factions in Sudan’s ongoing devastating civil war.

The United States had stepped forward to offer mediation to resolve the rift, with a senior Washington administration official expected to travel to the UAE for talks this week. However, a U.S. source confirmed that the planned visit never went ahead. Separately, Middle East Eye has learned that a planned trip to the UAE by Steve Witkoff, former President Donald Trump’s special peace envoy, also scheduled earlier this month, was similarly canceled at the last minute.

A brief moment of renewed alignment between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi emerged in recent weeks amid the U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran, with both Gulf states joining the U.S. in military strikes on Iranian targets. That tentative alignment quickly dissolved, however, after Saudi Arabia moved to back a mediation effort led by its longstanding ally Pakistan – a push that the UAE actively worked to block.

Earlier this month, Saudi Arabia joined Pakistan and Turkey to launch the Mecca Pact, a new joint defense cooperation agreement. The framework is widely viewed by regional analysts as an alternative security bloc to the expanding formal partnership between the UAE and Israel. While Saudi Arabia and its Pact partners have publicly insisted the agreement is not intended to counter the UAE and is open to new member states, the deal has drawn sharp criticism from Emirati political commentators. Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, a prominent Emirati political analyst and former advisor to Mohamed bin Zayed, questioned the purpose of the new alliance, writing, “One of the conditions for the success of any alliance is identifying the common enemy. So who is the enemy for the countries of this alliance?”

Beyond bypassing MBS, the UAE president’s letter also sends a clear signal that Abu Dhabi rejects the separate mediation channel proposed by the Saudi crown prince earlier this year. Middle East Eye previously reported that MBS sent a letter to Emirati National Security Advisor Tahnoon bin Zayed, the president’s brother, laying out Riyadh’s concerns over UAE activities in both Yemen and Sudan. That correspondence offered an official mediation channel led by MBS’s brother, Saudi Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman. Tahnoon, widely nicknamed the “spy sheikh,” is the UAE’s top diplomatic troubleshooter who led the 2021 reconciliation effort that restored diplomatic ties with Qatar after the 2017 Gulf diplomatic rift. Most recently, Reuters reported that Tahnoon hosted senior leaders from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for talks focused on ending attacks targeting Emirati territory.

More than 250 leading British legal and academic figures have issued an open letter to UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham, pressing his new Labour government to implement sweeping policy shifts on Israel—including ending all forms of military cooperation and reversing the terrorist designation of the pro-Palestinian direct action group Palestine Action.

Dated August 25 and obtained exclusively by Middle East Eye, the letter bears signatures from high-profile public figures, among them prominent human rights barrister Michael Mansfield, renowned Oxford University historian Avi Shlaim, Defend Our Juries co-founder Tim Crosland, and King’s College London academic Laleh Khalili (previously affiliated with the University of Exeter).

In the scathing opening of the letter, the signatories argue that despite repeated, well-documented accusations of Israeli war crimes in Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories, successive UK governments have maintained unwavering military, economic, and diplomatic backing for Israel. They condemn the current government’s approach: rather than reversing course and halting complicity in what the letter frames as violations of international law, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and allegations of genocide, the UK Home Office and judicial system have instead targeted activists who speak out in solidarity with Palestine.

“Rather than put a stop to the most grievous state crime of the twenty-first century, our government has chosen to impose increasingly authoritarian restrictions upon political protest in general and upon Palestinian solidarity in particular,” the letter reads.

The signatories, who identify as legal scholars, practicing legal professionals, and public intellectuals focused on upholding global ethics, justice, and international law, anchor their demands in the 1948 Genocide Convention—a binding international treaty that requires all signatory states to take active measures to prevent and punish acts of genocide. “We respect and commend citizens who refuse to stand by as mere spectators while their government fails to honour its legal obligations,” they add.

Central to the letter’s demands is a call for Burnham to turn his earlier symbolic apology into tangible policy change. Ahead of taking office in July 2025, Burnham publicly apologized for the previous Labour leadership’s decision under Keir Starmer to back Israel’s 2023-2024 military campaign in Gaza and reject early calls for a ceasefire. The letter urges Burnham to align his actions with this apology, to “underscore the UK’s respect for international law, freedom of speech and assembly.”

Specific policy demands include an immediate end to all forms of military and security cooperation with Israel: this covers a full halt to arms exports, the termination of joint surveillance flights, intelligence sharing, military training programs, and joint operational activities. The signatories also formally demand the government remove Palestine Action from the UK’s list of proscribed terrorist organizations, and enshrine the right for all defendants in political protest cases to present a full legal defense and submit all relevant evidence to trial juries.

Additional demands include the UK government officially backing South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and supporting the International Criminal Court (ICC) in its efforts to enforce outstanding arrest warrants against senior Israeli officials accused of international law violations.

Palestine Action, a direct action group focused on opposing Israeli occupation and UK corporate complicity in Israeli settlement expansion, was officially designated a terrorist organization by the incoming Labour government in July 2025. The designation makes membership in or public support for the group a criminal offense punishable by up to 14 years’ imprisonment. Since the ban took effect, thousands of people across the UK have been arrested simply for holding placards stating “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.”

Since taking office, Burnham has faced growing pressure from within his own party’s backbenches to take a harder line on Israeli policies, including imposing a trade ban on goods produced in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Earlier this month, Middle East Eye reported that Burnham’s administration is preparing to unveil a package of new policies toward Israel as early as September, with a ban on goods from illegal Israeli settlements expected to be a core measure.

According to MEE’s sources, Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband has been a leading advocate for stronger action against Israel, and has held a series of consultations with civil society organizations to shape the upcoming policy package. Last Wednesday, Miliband confirmed the government would announce new measures in response to Israel’s recent plans for new settlement construction in areas east of Jerusalem—construction that would split the occupied West Bank into two disconnected segments.

Closing the open letter, the signatories emphasize the urgency of the situation in Gaza and the occupied territories, and call on Burnham to respond to their demands within one month, by the end of September. “Given the catastrophic scale of the emergency that confronts us, we hope that your new government might now address these imperatives as a matter of urgency,” the letter concludes.

New disclosures filed with the U.S. Department of Justice and reviewed by independent outlet Middle East Eye reveal that the Turkish government has signed a 12-month, $2.4 million contract with Ballard Partners, a high-powered Washington lobbying firm with deep, long-standing ties to former U.S. President Donald Trump. The agreement was finalized on August 8 between the firm and Turkey’s Ministry of National Defence, with the contract stipulating a monthly payout of $200,000 for a scope of work that includes direct government relations outreach, strategic policy guidance, and targeted advocacy before the U.S. federal government, along with regular updates for Turkish officials on congressional activity and shifting U.S. policy priorities.

This new engagement marks not the first collaboration between Ballard Partners and the Turkish government. Back in 2017, during Trump’s first presidential term, Ankara contracted the firm for $1.5 million, in what was one of Ballard’s first landmark deals after establishing its Washington, D.C. presence. At that time, public reports indicate the firm’s core focus was advocating on behalf of Turkish state-owned financial institution Halkbank, which was facing a high-profile sanctions evasion case. The charges against the bank were ultimately dropped earlier this year by the Justice Department during the Trump administration.

Unlike the 2017 contract, the new agreement lists Turkey’s defense ministry as the lead client, signaling a clear strategic priority for Ankara: repairing its relationship with Washington to regain access to the F-35 stealth fighter jet program. Turkey was removed from the multinational fifth-generation fighter program in 2019 after moving forward with a purchase of Russia’s S-400 air defense system, a move that triggered U.S. sanctions and the halting of all F-35 deliveries to Ankara. Six F-35 jets already manufactured for Turkey have remained stored in the U.S. ever since, and Turkish leaders have made clear they aim to take delivery of these completed aircraft as part of any new agreement. Last month, Middle East Eye reported that Ankara was actively exploring a compromise plan that would see it sell the S-400 system to a third country, widely reported to be the United Arab Emirates, in exchange for the U.S. rolling back sanctions and readmitting Turkey to the F-35 program.

The Ballard Partners lobbying team assembled to advance Turkey’s policy goals includes a roster of well-connected political figures from both major U.S. parties. Leading the effort is former Democratic Congressman Robert Wexler of Florida, a long-time prominent pro-Turkish voice in Washington who co-founded the bipartisan Congressional Caucus on U.S.-Turkey Relations and Turkish Americans in 2001. Wexler also currently serves as president of the S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace and maintains extensive established connections within pro-Israel policy circles, a valuable asset for Ankara as it navigates complex regional dynamics.

Joining Wexler on the team is Thomas Boodry, who most recently served as a special assistant to Trump and senior director for legislative affairs at the White House National Security Council until April 2025. Boodry was among six senior administration officials dismissed shortly after Trump met with far-right activist Laura Loomer, who presented opposition research claiming the officials were disloyal to the president’s agenda. Rounding out the core team is Syl Lukis, a senior partner at Ballard Partners and one of firm founder Brian Ballard’s most trusted long-time associates.

Founded and led by Brian Ballard, a top Republican fundraiser based in Florida who was a key campaign official for Trump’s past presidential runs, Ballard Partners has emerged as one of the most influential lobbying operations in Washington in recent years. Earlier this year, Bloomberg reporting documented that multiple top Trump administration officials are alums of the firm, including current White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and former U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi. In the first quarter of 2026 alone, the firm brought in more than $30 million in federal lobbying revenue, outpacing every other major lobbying firm on K Street to claim the top spot in industry earnings for the quarter.