ABSTRACT
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is formally structured with a Supreme Council as the highest body comprising the six heads of member-states, a rotating presidency and one regular meeting each year if no member-states requested extra meetings. This chapter explores the role of the GCC in the quest to resolve the civil war in Syria. The six member-states, of approximately 35 million people, had as an objective to counterbalance the politically stronger states of Iraq and Iran by establishing deeper economic and political collaboration based on shared cultural and historical traits. Oman has preferred to see military integration with support from the US, while Saudi Arabia has been in favor of developing a GCC military shield that is less dependent on a United States security umbrella. In the 1980s, diplomatic challenges escalated between Bahrain and Qatar regarding the control of the potential oil sources in Fasht al-Dibal-reven.
