Arab News columnist urges Gulf defence pact to move beyond declarations

Writing in Arab News on 3 November, Kuwait University law professor Bashayer Al-Majed argues that Gulf solidarity has not gone beyond declarations. On 18 October, Gulf foreign ministers invoked the joint defence agreement signed in Manama in December 2000, under which an attack on one of the six members counts as an attack on all. A few days later, Houthi attacks threatened the area around Mecca and a ballistic missile was shot down over southern Saudi Arabia.

The author frames the issue in legal terms. Article 51 of the UN Charter recognises collective self-defence, and Article 52 recognises regional arrangements. The International Court of Justice's 1986 Nicaragua ruling requires an armed attack, a declaration by the victim state and a request for assistance. In her view, repeated strikes on civilian airports and energy infrastructure satisfy the first condition; Riyadh, however, has so far relied solely on its own forces and kept the door to diplomacy open.

She proposes solidarity that stops short of sending troops: integrated air defence, intelligence sharing and a joint notification to the UN Security Council under Resolution 2216. The author recalls how the 2017–2021 Qatar crisis froze cooperation, and how Saudi Arabia opened its territory for Kuwait in 1990. For her, the threat in the Strait of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb affects all six economies, and a pact invoked only in communiqués does not work as a shield.