Gulf countries to establish joint command post — Der Spiegel
Six states of the Gulf Cooperation Council agreed to establish a joint command post in Kuwait and provide the necessary troops for it. The decision was made by the defense ministers of the member states at a meeting in Manama, Bahrain.
The Council includes Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman. As Der Spiegel reports, the participants did not disclose details about the structure of the future command post or the size of the military contingents.
Strengthening military cooperation
The Council’s Secretary-General Jassem al-Budaiwi said in Manama that the security of the Gulf states, amid what he described as brutal Iranian aggression, is a shared task. According to him, military cooperation is intended to strengthen the ability to protect the territories, assets and populations of the member states.
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The Gulf Cooperation Council was founded in 1981, two years after the Iranian Revolution and at an early stage of the war between Iraq and Iran. The Peninsula Shield Force was previously established within the organization, and at one point its strength reached 40,000 military personnel. In 2011, these forces were deployed to suppress mass protests in Bahrain.
Attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil pipeline
Saudi Arabia also reported another attack on the important East-West oil pipeline in the Medina region. According to the state SPA agency, which cited a ministry representative, a fire broke out after the attack but has already been extinguished. There were no casualties, and the pipeline’s operations were not affected.
Saudi authorities did not name those responsible for the latest attack. Earlier, the kingdom’s Foreign Ministry blamed another attack on pro-Iranian groups from Iraq. The pipeline makes it possible to transport significant volumes of oil from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea, bypassing the effectively blocked Strait of Hormuz. It was temporarily shut down after attacks in mid-September, but is now operating again.
