Gulf states plan unified military command
26 Dec 2012
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is planning to pool militaries of its member states into a single command structure, the state-run Bahrain News Agency quoted Bahrain's foreign minister as saying on Tuesday.
Bahrain's foreign minister Khalid Al-Khalifa made the announcement at the end of a GCC summit in the capital city of Mamama.
The council's command would bring together "the Peninsula Shield Forces as well as the air and naval forces" of member states in the oil-rich region, BNA quoted him as saying.
"It is an entity that will bring all efforts together under one umbrella," he said, adding that it is still in a preliminary stage.
The report comes amidst heightened tensions with Iran and Bahrain. There is wider concern among Bahrain's rulers that Iran could meddle in Bahrain's internal affairs. Iran is a Shiite majority state while Bahrain has a Shiite majority population with Sunni rulers.
In March 2011, the GCC sent forces to Bahrain to help the government put down a Shiite Muslim uprising.
