Gulf states approve new Unified Military Command hub in Kuwait

The GCC's secretary-general announced the approval of the advanced headquarters and the deployment of what he called appropriate forces to it. Defense ministers from all six member states attended the 23rd meeting of the bloc's Joint Defense Council in Bahrain. No further details on the headquarters or the forces headed there were immediately available.

The Unified Military Command is not new. The GCC set it up at a summit in Kuwait in December 2013 to plan and manage joint military operations and to shore up member states' defenses against threats to their territory, airspace, waters and interests.

The bloc covers Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. All are US allies, and most host large American military bases on their soil. Since the United States and Israel launched their war with Iran on February 28, those states have faced repeated Iranian missile and drone attacks.

The war has already scrambled air travel and shipping across the region. It has also sharpened concerns about the security of the Gulf's oil and gas exports, which the region's economies lean on heavily.