American-Gulf summit stresses need for Assad-free Syria

The Gulf-American summit yesterday stressed the “need for a political transition in Syria without Bashar Al-Assad, while preserving the state institutions, and focusing on combatting the terrorist organisations, Daesh and Al-Nusra Front.”

The statement, published by the official Saudi Press Agency, called for reemphasising the strategic partnership between the Gulf countries and Washington, which aims to achieve stability, security, and prosperity in the region. “The summit discussed the measures taken to reinforce cooperation between the GCC countries and the US and deepen their partnership.”

“Given the gravity of the challenges faced by the region, the leaders expressed their commitment to take additional urgent measures to intensify the campaign to defeat Daesh and Al-Qaeda, relieve the intensity of the regional conflicts, strive to reach solutions for these conflicts, address Iran’s destabilising activities in the region, and to work together to reduce and prevent regional and sectarian tensions that fuel instability,” the statement said.

It also noted that the leaders discussed a joint vision to deal with the most urgent conflicts in the region. They expressed their welcome of the important progress that was made since the first summit in Camp David in May 2015, and stressed the need to preserve the achievements that have been made.