Breaking Defense
BEIRUT — The Gulf Cooperation Council convened today in Doha, announcing its intent to boost defense ties between member states in response to the Israeli strike on Hamas targets in Qatar earlier this month.
Stating that an attack on one GCC member is an attack on all, a special session of the GCC’s Joint Defense Council made made five pledges, which include increasing intelligence sharing, increasing image sharing, accelerating work on early warning systems, updating defense plans, and conducting joint exercises, according to a translated statement. The GCC is made up of six states: the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman.
“The security of the GCC states is indivisible, in accordance with the provisions of the Joint Defense Agreement,” the statement reads.
Today’s defense council meeting comes just days after an emergency meeting was convened on Monday in Doha to discuss next steps after the Israeli strike, which the council “condemned in the strongest terms.”
The meeting also comes amid regional reports that Arab nations could be considering even closer defense ties in formal a NATO-like structure — though analysts told Breaking Defense that step would be unlikely.
