Saudi Arabia's greatest change, the GCC crisis in 2018 and Iraq finally changing for the better

The Middle East in 2017 could look like relatively tame year in a region that has become so characteristic of extreme often dramatic changes.

The Arab world has become a stage for an ever shifting political reality, with coups, civil wars and millions of people displaced from conflict in the last ten years. Despite all of this, the Arabian Gulf typically remains quite peaceful as the leaders have a policy of prioritizing stability. However, this year was different. The three of the biggest stories of 2017 came out of the Arabian Peninsula with the reform policies of Saudi Arabia, the GCC crisis and the change within Iraq.

Naser Al Wasmi is joined by his colleagues on The National's foreign desk, Dana Moukhallati and Mina Al Droubi, to look into what might be in stock for the region in 2018.