DOHA, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Joint Defense Council held an extraordinary session in Doha on Thursday, strongly condemning Israel's military attack on Qatar and deciding to step up intelligence sharing and update joint defense plans.
In a statement, the council said Israel's actions represented "a blatant violation" of Qatar's sovereignty and security, threatening regional stability.
Officials from GCC defense ministries agreed that an attack on Qatar is "an attack on all GCC states," the statement said, stressing that the bloc supports all measures Qatar takes to "confront the aggression, safeguard security, and defend unity and territorial integrity."
The meeting decided to enhance intelligence exchange through the Unified Military Command, ensure real-time transmission of air situation data, accelerate the development of a regional ballistic missile early warning system, and update defense plans.
It added that the GCC will hold a joint air defense exercise within three months to further strengthen collective defense capabilities.
The Joint Defense Council comprises defense officials from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain.
This comes after an unprecedented Israeli airstrike in Doha last week targeted a building where Hamas officials were meeting to discuss a U.S.-proposed ceasefire. The attack killed five Hamas members and a Qatari security officer, though key negotiators survived. ■
