Leaders of wealthy Gulf Arab states Monday gathered in Riyadh for the opening of their annual summit, against a backdrop of regional turmoil and growing fears of Iran.
Leaders of wealthy Gulf Arab states Monday gathered in
Riyadh
for
the opening of their annual summit, against a backdrop of regional turmoil and
growing fears of
Iran
.
Rulers of the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council were in the Saudi capital
except for Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan of the
United
Arab Emirates
, who will be represented by
his deputy Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashed al-Maktoum.
The summit comes as the embattled regime of Syria, rocked by a nine-month
uprising the U.N. estimates has killed at least 5,000 people, agreed to an Arab
League proposal to send observers to the country.
In addition to
Syria
, the
Gulf leaders will discuss the situation in
Tunisia
,
Egypt
and
Libya
,
where popular uprisings have already unseated entrenched dictators this year.
Gulf Cooperation Council member
Bahrain
was
also hit by a month of protests that it crushed in March, while demonstrators
in neighboring
Yemen
forced long-time President Ali Abdullah Saleh to sign a power transfer deal.
In
Kuwait
, the
cabinet resigned last month over allegations of corruption and a new government
was sworn in on Wednesday with only minor changes to the previous government.
They are also expected to discuss their fears of the growing influence of
arch-foe
Iran
after
the
U.S.
pullout from
Iraq
.
Their relations with the Shiite-dominated Islamic republic have soured
following the unrest in
Bahrain
and
Syria
and
an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate
Riyadh
's
ambassador in
Washington
.
The GCC--comprising
Saudi Arabia
,
Qatar
,
Kuwait
,
Bahrain
,
Oman
and
the
United Arab Emirates
--was
formed in 1981 as a security alliance to counter post-revolution
Iran
.
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