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Defense ministers of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states met here to review the bloc’s defense strategies and prospects of bolstering a joint force.
Kuwait’s Defense Minister Sheikh Jaber al-Mubarak al-Sabah opened the meeting by backing efforts to "build defense strategies for our states ... and to achieve capability and readiness to repulse any (external) aggression." The minister also called for "bolstering the Peninsula Shield to become a protective defense for our countries in these delicate conditions in our region.”
GCC Secretary General Abdulrahman al-Attiyah said that the pace of military cooperation between members of the six-nation alliance would accelerate. He said the ministers would review several issues including the 5,000-strong Peninsula Shield joint force, safe communications and a cooperation belt.
The GCC, which groups Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has since 1986 had the joint force stationed at Hafr al-Batin in northeastern Saudi Arabia, near the border with Iraq. Member states of the oil-rich bloc have been discussing plans to bolster the number of men to some 22,000.
The force was notably impotent during Iraq’s August 1990 invasion of Kuwait that ended seven months later when Saddam Hussein’s troops were ousted by a U.S.-led coalition. Part of the force was moved to Kuwait last year during the US-led invasion of Iraq. The GCC partners have signed a joint defense pact that requires member states to defend each other in case of external aggression.
They have also set up a joint defense council to oversee the implementation of the pact. The Oct. 4 meeting is the council’s annual gathering, which is held at the level of defense ministers.
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