April 2011: The six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are establishing a Gulf confederation, Kuwait’s Al Seyassah daily reported. According to the report, which comes as tensions mount between Shiite Iran and the Sunni-ruled Gulf states, the proposed confederation would have a unified foreign, defence and security policy, but each of the six countries would retain their independence and sovereignty.

Quoting unamed authorative sources, the report states such a move will help Gulf Arab states confront challenges and threats from Iran to their security, sovereignty and independence. “The confederation is seen as a crucial development after the blatant Iranian interference in Bahrain’s domestic affairs and Tehran’s repeated attempts to undermine the security and stability of the Gulf states through mercenaries working for the Revolutionary Guards and the Iranian intelligence services even though they have Arab nationalities,” the paper quoted the sources as saying.

The GCC secretariat is coordinating “wide and expansive” talks between senior officials in GCC countries with the ideal outcome being the formation of a confederation. Under the confederation plan, a single foreign affairs ministry will be in charge of the GCC relations with other countries and the six Gulf states will have only one common embassy in foriegn countries, which in turn will have only one diplomatic mission in the Gulf.

The Gulf countries would also turn the existing Peninsula Shield, their military cooperation arm, into a fast intervention force with higher military and fighting capabilities to repel regional threats and confront plots to undermine stability in any of the six member countries. “The competent agencies in the Gulf countries will also unify their combat training and will hold massive military manoeuvres involving land, sea and air forces annually,” the sources state.

“The Gulf states will activate and reinvigorate their agreements and will sign new ones while speeding up the implementation of the accords on the customs unions and oil policies,” the sources state. The proposed GCC force would be via the Gulf of Aqaba.

April 30, 2011: Syrian troops backed by tanks and helicopters attacked the Omari mosque in Daraa, killing four people. Daraa resident Abdullah Abazeid stated the Syrian military assault on the mosque lasted 90 minutes, during which troops fired tank shells and heavy machine-guns. Three helicopters took part in the operation, dropping paratroopers onto the mosque itself.

The Omari mosque is in the city’s Roman-era old town. Among the dead was Osama Ahmad, the son of the mosque’s imam, Sheik Ahmad Sayasna. The other three were a woman and her two daughters who were killed when a tank shell hit their home near the mosque.
Syrian military forces poured into Daraa, including 20 armoured personnel carriers, four tanks, and a military ambulance, a resident of the city told the media. The operation in the town of Daraa occurred a day after President Bashar Assad unleashed deadly force to crack down on a months-old revolt, killing at least 65 people, mostly in the border town.

The head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdul-Rahman, stated 65 people were killed Friday with 36 of the deaths in the Daraa province, 27 in the central Homs region, one in Latakia and another in the Damascus countryside. In all, 535 civilians have been killed since the uprising began in mid-March.

Ammar Qurabi, who heads the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria, stated authorities were forcing families of the dead to sign documents stating their loved ones were killed by “armed groups.” He added that about 100 people from the Homs region are missing in what could mean they were killed, detained or wounded.

An activist stated authorities have asked families of some of those killed Friday to hold small funerals attended by family members only. Similar orders were given last week, but most people did not abide by them, the activist added. The move appeared to be an attempt by authorities to avoid more bloodshed, with funerals in the past weeks turned into demonstrations.

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April 2011: A Bahraini criminal court will try a Bahraini and two Iranians on charges of spying for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard on April 20, Gulf News reports. The alleged spies are accused of “intelligence contacts with a group of people working for a foreign country with the intention of undermining Bahrain’s military, political and economic status and harming the nation’s interests.”

Court documents said the three unnamed defendants had contacts with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard from 2002 to April 2010 to provide them with military and economic information, and data on military and industrial sites in Bahrain in a bid to harm the country’s national interests.

The defendants, the documents state, also requested money from the Revolutionary Guard in return for the military and economic information. The trial comes as Bahrain is working to suppress an uprising among its Shiite Muslim minority. Iran is ruled by religious leaders from the Shiite sect, and the Iranian-backed Hizbullah group has openly offered to assist Shiite rebels in Bahrain.

Kuwait ring: The trial of the two Iranians in Bahrain on espionage charges comes days after a criminal court in Kuwait sentenced two Iranians and a Kuwaiti to death for participating in a spy ring discovered by Kuwaiti authorities in May 2010.

The verdict sparked angry remarks from Kuwait, and strong denials from Iran, as the two countries expelled diplomats in the ensuing row. Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denied the existence of a spy network in Kuwait and claims there was nothing to spy on in the northernmost Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) country.

Kuwait’s foreign minister insisted the Iranian spy ring was real. Several Kuwaiti MPs, angered by Tehran’s reaction, have called for completely severing diplomatic ties. GCC countries have been concerned about what they see as blatant Iranian interference in their domestic affairs, particularly after Tehran criticised Manama and Riyadh for the deployment of units from the Peninsula Shield, the GCC military arm, in Bahrain last month.

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