The overt and apparently decisive intervention by the Lebanese Shi’a group Hezbollah on the government side in the battle for the Syrian town of Qusair has produced a swift, equal and opposite reaction from the conservative and mainly Sunni states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) - Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, the UAE, Bahrain and Oman.

Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Ghanim bin Fadl al-Buainain told reporters after a meeting of GCC foreign ministers in Jiddah on 2 June that “all GCC countries are convinced that Hezbollah is a terrorist organization…there is no difference of opinion among the GCC countries on considering Hezbollah a terrorist organization.” (CONTINUED - 516 WORDS)