GCC and other regional groupings: Qatar crisis drags on, Arab League warms to Syria

Summit disunity: The Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) summit, held in Riyadh on 9 December, was overshadowed by the long-running crisis pitting Qatar against the GCC-3 of Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Doha sent a low-ranking delegation, led by minister of state for foreign affairs Sultan Bin Saad Al-Muraikhi. Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah was most explicit in his calls for the rift to be healed, telling the summit “we face a serious threat to the unity of our position” and that “unfortunately the world is beginning to see us as a shaken entity”.