The six-state Gulf Cooperation Council has also approved the allocation of “appropriate” forces to the forward post, for the approved headquarters, planned alongside its existing headquarters in Riyadh.
The Gulf Cooperation Council’s Joint Defence Council approved a forward headquarters in Kuwait for its Unified Military Command and the allocation of “appropriate” military forces to it, the council said in a statement covered by Al Jazeera on 10 November. The post would be positioned closer to potential threats than the existing headquarters in Riyadh, which opened in 2021.
Defense ministers from all six members—Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates—attended the Joint Defence Council’s 23rd meeting. The command was established in 2013 to coordinate joint operations and strengthen collective defense.
The decision builds on earlier military cooperation. In 1984, the Gulf states decided to create the Peninsula Shield Force, a joint military force based in Saudi Arabia near the Kuwaiti and Iraqi borders.
The six-state command is separate from the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement, which Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkiye signed in August. That agreement says an armed attack on one signatory would be considered an attack on all three.
The decision followed Iranian missile and drone attacks on Gulf states during the US-Israeli war on Iran. The conflict disrupted flights and shipping, threatening regional oil and gas exports. The council’s statement also condemned Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia.
Muhanad Seloom, a nonresident fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs, said a permanent command presence in Kuwait would reassure Gulf states and send a message to Iran and Iraq. He saw it as part of a longer-term effort to deter Iran, rather than a signal of an imminent Iranian strike.
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The headquarters’ exact location, troop numbers and types of forces have not been disclosed, so the allocation of “appropriate” forces does not specify its size or composition. Deployment dates have not been announced.
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