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The GCC Joint Defence Council convened an extraordinary session in Doha yesterday, where it condemned the Israeli attack on Qatar as a “grave violation” of sovereignty and international law, and approved immediate steps to strengthen collective defence.
Bahrain’s Defence Affairs Minister Lieutenant General Abdulla Al Nuaimi attended the meeting, chaired by Qatar’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defence Affairs Shaikh Saud bin Abdulrahman bin Hassan Al Thani. It brought together defence ministers and senior representatives from all six GCC states, along with GCC Secretary-General Jassim Mohammed Al Budaiwi.
In an official statement, the council denounced the Israeli attack “in the strongest terms,” calling it a dangerous escalation and a blatant breach of international law and the UN Charter.
It stressed that an attack on Qatar is an attack on all GCC member states and voiced full support for measures taken by Doha to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The council warned that the aggression posed a direct threat to regional stability and undermined Qatar’s diplomatic efforts to broker a ceasefire in Gaza and secure the release of Israeli hostages and detainees.
Among the measures agreed, the council said it would be enhancing intelligence exchange through the Unified Military Command, sharing real-time air situation updates across GCC operations centres, and speeding up work on the GCC Joint Task Force for the Early Warning System against ballistic missiles.
It would also be updating collective defence plans in co-ordination with the Operations and Training Committee, as well as conducting joint air defence and operations centre exercises within three months, followed by a live joint air exercise.
The ministers emphasised that the security of GCC states is indivisible under the Joint Defence Agreement and pledged to continue co-ordination at all military and intelligence levels to reinforce deterrence and ensure the safety of the region.
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