“Gulf Countries stand for Preserving Syria’s Territorial Integrity” GCC Official Statement. MBS invited to next BRICS Summit
In the cover image the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met on Monday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
Members countries of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Persian Gulf, also known as the Gulf Cooperation Council, or GCC, stand for preserving Syria’s territorial integrity and respecting its independence, according to a joint statement issued after the GCC ministerial meeting in Riyadh.
“The Ministerial Council affirmed its firm positions towards preserving the territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic, respecting its independence and sovereignty over its territory, rejecting regional interference in its internal affairs, supporting the efforts of the United Nations to reach a political solution in Syria in line with Security Council Resolution 2254 and relevant United Nations resolutions, supporting the efforts of its Special Envoy for Syria (Geir Pedersen), supporting efforts to care for Syrian refugees and displaced persons, and working towards their voluntary and safe return to Syria, in accordance with international standards, and rejecting any attempts to make demographic changes in Syria,” the document reads.
Three ministerial meetings were held in Riyadh on Monday, including a session of the Russia-GCC Strategic Dialogue, which was attended by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. On the sideline of the event, the top Russian diplomat held a series of bilateral meetings, including with Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman Al-Saud, that country’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud, as well as with top Indian diplomat Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and his Brazilian counterpart Mauro Vieira, who arrived in Riyadh to participate in separate meetings with GCC ministers.
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When a civil war broke out in Syria, the majority of Arab countries, having failed to press Damascus to make any concessions to the opposition, recalled their ambassadors from Syria and joined the economic boycott of that country. During the period of the civil war, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and a number of other countries supported Syria’s anti-government armed opposition both financially and militarily. In recent years, several GCC countries, including Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Saudi Arabia, have resumed diplomatic relations with Damascus.
On May 19, 2023, Syrian President Bashar Assad attended an Arab League summit in Jeddah, for the first time since 2010. Shortly before the summit, the Arab League Council made a decision to reinstate Syria’s full-fledged membership, which was suspended in November 2011.
Saudi crown prince invited to BRICS summit in Kazan
Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud has been invited to attend the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.
“Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud has an invitation [to the BRICS summit]. And at out today’s meeting, we discussed this with him, discussed preparations for the summit. I am convinced that this will be a successful event,” he said after a meeting of the Russia-Gulf Cooperation Council Strategic Dialogue.
The Russian minister recalled that Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud had taken part in a BRICS ministerial meeting in June.
Established in 2006, the BRIC group was made up of Brazil, Russia, India and China. In 2011, South Africa joined the group, adding the “S” to the acronym. Now it has ten members after six new countries, including Argentina, were invited to join the association in August 2023, but Argentina refused from joining BRICS in late December, while the other five nations, namely Egypt, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Ethiopia, became full-fledged members of BRICS from January 1, 2024.
Russia took over the BRICS’ year-long presidency on January 1, 2024. Russia’s presidency features more than 250 various events, with a BRICS summit in Kazan in October 2024 being the central one.
US-led coalition’s aircraft violate Syrian airspace ten times in past day
The US-led coalition’s aircraft violated Syria’s airspace in the al-Tanf area ten times during the past day,
Oleg Ignasyuk, deputy chief of the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Opposing Parties in Syria (a division of the Russian defense ministry), said on Monday.
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“Aircraft of the so-called international anti-terrorist coalition led by the United States continues to create dangerous situation that may cause air accident or incidents and escalate the situation in Syria’s airspace,” he said. “A pair of the coalition’s F-15 fighter jets (three times), a pair of F/A-18 fighter jets, as well as a pair of A-10 Thunderbolt attack bombers violated Syria’s airspace in the al-Tanf area, across which international air routes run, ten times during the day.”
Apart from that, in his words, seven violations of the deconfliction protocols of December 9, 2019 linked with the flights by the US-led coalition unmanned aerial vehicles were reported in Syria in the past.
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