GCC members agree to station forces at new military command post in Kuwait

The six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) agreed on Tuesday to set up a military command post in Kuwait and station forces there, Secretary-General Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi said.

Albudaiwi announced the decision after defence ministers from Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates met in Manama. The council did not set an opening date or say how many troops it would send or what their duties would be.

Kuwait lies at the northern end of the Gulf, bordering Iraq and Saudi Arabia and facing Iran across the water.

The new post will be part of the GCC’s Unified Military Command, which the six countries set up in 2013 to plan joint operations. Its main headquarters opened in Riyadh in 2021.

Hours before the ministers met, the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said it had shot down two missiles fired by the Houthis towards Riyadh.

It also reported intercepting a ballistic missile headed for southern Saudi Arabia and a drone over the country’s Eastern Province.

Albudaiwi condemned the Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia and said Iranian strikes had damaged civilian infrastructure in Gulf countries.

Tehran has repeatedly fired missiles and drones at Gulf states since the US and Israel launched their offensive against Iran in the opening salvo of the ongoing war on 28 February.

Gulf defence ministers have previously agreed to share more intelligence and speed up work on a joint missile warning system. Gulf leaders renewed that call at their April summit in Jeddah.