Several Gulf Arab Countries Are Pulling Their Ambassadors out of Syria
On Tuesday, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) released a statement that said Syria’s President Assad has rejected all attempts at solving the crisis in the country. The GCC said that all of its members are withdrawing their ambassadors out of the country and booting the Syrian envoys out of the GCC countries. The countries on the GCC include Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar.
Saudi Arabia is currently the head of the council and they announced today that this is a necessary move for the council. After nearly a year into the crackdown on anti-government protestors, there has not been any sign that there is a solution that will be accepted by the Syrian government and its supporters.
On Saturday, the foreign ministers of the above countries will meet in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. They are to discuss the current situation in Syria. King Abdullah, Saudi Arabia’s leader, has urged the international community to take the necessary steps to protect the Syrian people and to stop the violence. King Abdullah said that the increasing violence is threatening the stability of the Arab region.
Saudi Arabia is one of the Arab world’s leading powers. They have viewed the leadership in Syria with distrust because of the government’s ties with Iran. Saudi Arabia was also the first country to pull its Arab League observers out of the country. The removal of those observers was quickly followed by the other members of the GCC.
The United States announced yesterday that they have closed their embassy in Damascus and all staff and personnel have departed the country. The United States said that Syria refused to increase security at and around the embassy and that it is no longer safe for the embassy’s employees to remain in Syria. Britain also closed its embassy last month after an attack on the embassy put the staff and personnel in danger.
