LONDON: The Gulf Cooperation Council has approved the establishment of a joint forward military command in Kuwait — the member state hardest hit by Iranian attacks — marking its most concrete step yet toward turning collective defense commitments into operational capabilities.
Forces will be assigned to the new command, the GCC’s Secretary-General Jasem Mohamed AlBudaiwi said in a statement on Tuesday.
The announcement followed the 23rd session of the GCC’s Joint Defense Council in Manama, attended by defense ministers from all six member states: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
“The GCC’s joint military action receives the utmost attention, care, and support from their majesties and highnesses, the leaders of the GCC states,” AlBudaiwi said.
“This also reflects their awareness of the responsibility of the armed forces in the GCC states to secure their safety and stability, safeguard their independence, and develop and advance them to keep pace with the hopes and aspirations placed upon them.”
He said the meeting’s agenda included several significant decisions that would “propel the GCC’s joint Gulf military cooperation toward broader horizons of integration.”
However, he did not specify the forward command’s responsibilities, operational scope or the number of troops to be assigned to it.
Describing the response to the “treacherous Iranian attacks” as a “shared Gulf responsibility,”
