Marrakech - The Arab daily Al Massae, reports that the Gulf countries are trying to persuade Morocco and Jordan to join their forces in the war against the Islamic State terrorist organization. Requests were also sent to Tunisia, Algeria, and Egypt.
Defense News reported that the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) was seeking to form a military bloc with Morocco and Jordan to resolve manpower issues. A Jordanian official said that the proposal had been presented to Morocco and Jordan in March and was under consideration.
Al Massae said that the armed forces included Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Morocco, Jordan and possibly Egypt. Saudi Arabia was pushing for Egyptian involvement. The newspaper reported that a force of 300,000 troops from Morocco, Jordan and possibly Egypt would be added to the GCC forces.
The report pointed to significant Gulf investment in Jordan and Morocco, and the need to form a joint military command for the force. The GCC joint military command is likely to achieve a force of 100,000 troops, according to Prince Mutaib bin Abdullah, Saudi Arabia’s Minister for the National Guard.
The United States is selling weapons to the GCC ahead of the announcement of the joint command, the newspaper concluded.