DUBAI, November 15 (RIA Novosti) – Bahraini Foreign Minister Shaikh Khalid Al Khalifa has denied critics’ claims that Russia has lost its positions in the Arab world due to its position on Syria.
“Our meeting today testifies to the opposite. Russia has for decades supported the Arab world, so today we are with Russia,” Al Khalifa told journalists on Wednesday after a ministerial meeting that focused on the dialog between Russia and the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh.
He said Arab countries will keep cooperating with Russia to seek a solution to the Syrian conflict.
Since its start in March 2011, the Syrian conflict has claimed tens of thousands of lives, according to various Syrian opposition groups. The UN puts the death toll at 20,000-30,000 people.
The West is pushing for President Bashar al-Assad’s ouster while Russia and China are trying to prevent outside interference in Syria, saying that the Assad regime and the opposition are both to blame for the bloodshed. Veto-wielding Moscow and Beijing have three times blocked sanctions resolutions on Syria.
The GCC is made up of Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Oman.