MUSCAT // The Gulf Cooperation Council will meet in Riyadh this week to discuss Syria, Oman's foreign minister said yesterday.
"The foreign ministers of the GCC will meet ... to debate and exchange views on the situation in Syria," Yussef bin Alawi said.
The meeting will be held on Saturday, ahead of an Arab League meeting in Cairo, and is expected to focus on "the situation after the failure of the UN" to adopt a Security Council resolution supporting a league plan to end the Syria crisis, Mr Alawi said.
Meanwhile in Washington, Barack Obama, the US president, said the violence in Syria could be ended without outside military intervention.
Vowing stronger sanctions on the Syrian regime and defending his administration's handling of the crisis, Mr Obama told NBC's Today show that Syria does not have to be like Libya.
“I think it is very important for us to try to resolve this without recourse to outside military intervention. And I think that’s possible.”
Mr Obama’s comments follow a statement on Saturday in which the US president had described Syrian government violence against civilians as “abhorrent brutality”.
foreign.desk@thenational.ae
