Global Arab Network | GCC: Bahrain King commends Peninsula Shield forces

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GCC: Bahrain King commends Peninsula Shield forces

Global Arab Network - - Mohammed Almasri

Monday, 21 March 2011 00:47

Bahrain_King_commends_Peninsula_Shield_forces-

King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa Sunday commended positions of the GCC leaders for sending troops to protect Bahrain from harm.

"Your presence is a support and gives us strength," King Hamad said in a meeting with the commander and senior officers from the Peninsula Shield forces, deployed in Bahrain in line with a common defence agreement between the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states.

King Hamad, cited by official media, said the deployment of the peninsula shield forces was not to restore domestic order in Bahrain but to "have the duty of defending any country of the GCC states." The Bahraini Monarch said there was an "external plot" which has been ongoing for at least 30 years targeting the GCC. He asserted that the plot has failed. He did not elaborate.

The GCC consists of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and the United Arab Emirates

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Al Muallem asserted the legitimacy of the GCC Peninsula Shield forces presence in Bahrain.

"Those forces are not occupation ones as they are dispatched in implementation of joint security agreements signed by the Gulf Cooperation Council member states," he explained.

"Bahrain's approval of the forces' entry itself legitimatise their presence in the kingdom," Muallem said in an interview with the pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat Saturday.

The Syrian minister said he conveyed a message from the Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad to his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during his visit to Tehran last Thursday on current developments in the region mainly in Bahrain.

Muallem said Syria and Iran are keen on preserving Bahrain's sovereignty and independence and the need to boost security and stability there.

Both countries call for a constructive dialogue to achieve aspirations of the Bahraini people and promote national unity.

He also hailed Bahraini royal initiative for dialogue with opposition over all concerned issues.

Global Arab Network

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