GCC agrees to set up advanced military command headquarters in Kuwait

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has agreed to set up an advanced headquarters for its Unified Military Command in Kuwait, with plans to station “appropriate” military forces there. The announcement by the GCC’s General Secretariat on Tuesday followed a meeting of defence ministers from member states in Bahrain.

Details about the headquarters and the number or type of troops expected to be deployed have yet to be disclosed. The GCC consists of six United States-allied Gulf states: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Established at a summit in Kuwait in December 2013, the GCC’s Unified Military Command was designed to oversee joint military operations and enhance collective defence against threats to member states’ territory, airspace, maritime areas and interests. Most Gulf countries host major US military installations and were targeted in Iranian missile and drone attacks in the weeks after the US-Israel war on Iran began on February 28.