‘Gulf Interpol’ to crush terror, crime

November 28, 2014

Riyadh, Nov 28: The GCC plans to set up a joint police force to tackle organized crime syndicates, terrorist groups, drug smugglers and human traffickers.

The force, dubbed the Gulf Interpol, would have its headquarters in Abu Dhabi with Emirati Lt. Col Mubarak Al-Khayli as its chief, said a GCC statement released on Thursday. The GCC body would be similar to Europol, the European Union’s law enforcement agency that handles criminal intelligence and deals with organized crime.

“The GCC interior ministers have given the green light to the plan to set up the police force because large-scale criminal and terrorist networks pose a significant threat to the internal security of the GCC and the safety and livelihood of its people,” said the statement.

The GCC statement said the force would help counter cross-border criminal activity in the region. “There is a need to lay down a clear-cut strategy to combat all crimes, particularly drug trafficking and money laundering,” said Kuwaiti Interior Minister Sheikh Mohammad Al-Khalid Al-Sabah, who chaired the ministers’ meeting in Kuwait City.

“All GCC member states will subscribe to a joint criminal database, with each appointing a representative to act as a point of contact with the GCC police force,” said Abdullatif Al-Zayani, speaking after the meeting.

He said the presidency of the body would rotate among the six member states every three years.

The GCC police force would operate under the security department of the GCC general-secretariat, which acts as a central database and information exchange unit, he said. The GCC ministerial council is set to ratify the plan before presenting it to the 35th GCC summit scheduled to take place in Doha on Dec. 19.

Hassan K. Alotaibi, a political analyst, said: “This is an ambitious security project with added significance ... Moreover, it will be interesting to see the composition of the Gulf Interpol because the GCC states have their own police and public security systems, different from one another.”

Saudi Arabia, for example, has a regular police force, a secret police unit and religious police, he added.

He said the Gulf region was becoming more vulnerable to international drug trafficking, money laundering, organized fraud, counterfeiting of Gulf currencies, people smuggling and cybercrime.

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Syrian Town erupts after Israeli forces enter Beit Jinn; heavy casualties reported

News Network

November 28,2025

Several Syrians were killed and more than two dozen others injured in Israeli strikes on the outskirts of Damascus, amid intensified incursions by the occupying regime since the fall of former president Bashar al-Assad and the rise of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rule.

Syrian state TV reported that the casualties occurred during an overnight Israeli assault involving helicopters and drones on the town of Beit Jinn in the Damascus countryside. The attack followed an Israeli military unit’s entry into the town, where they were surrounded by local residents, leading to gunfire and direct confrontations.

According to the report, “The occupation army’s helicopters and artillery shelled Beit Jinn, located at the foothills of Mount Hermon, resulting in 13 martyrs and 25 injured civilians.” The broadcaster did not specify the full extent of damage.

Al-Ikhbariyah Syria confirmed that the shelling coincided with Israeli soldiers entering Beit Jinn, while artillery pounded surrounding areas. The broadcaster stated that the escalation began after local residents clashed with an Israeli patrol that had infiltrated the southern town and “kidnapped” three young men.

Following a two-hour exchange of heavy fire, Israeli forces withdrew and repositioned on the hill of Butt al-Warda at the town’s outskirts.

Israeli media acknowledged that six soldiers were wounded in the clashes—three of them seriously—describing the confrontation as a “sudden ambush” that forced the deployment of reserve units and air support to secure an exit route. No further details were provided.

The aggression has fueled renewed displacement from Beit Jinn, with residents fleeing to nearby villages amid increasingly frequent Israeli attacks.

The raid came just a day after Israeli troops carried out another ground incursion into Umm al-Luqas village in Quneitra province. According to SANA, an Israeli unit in four vehicles entered the village, raided several homes, and later withdrew.

Syria condemned the repeated incursions as violations of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement and UN resolutions, urging the international community to enforce compliance and pressure Israel to halt its operations and withdraw fully.

Israel has expanded its attacks across Syrian territory following the collapse of the Assad government last year. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly instructed his forces to push deeper into Syrian territory and seize strategic positions.

Meanwhile, critics say the HTS-led interim government’s inaction and growing normalization gestures toward Israel have emboldened Tel Aviv to intensify its military operations. HTS, formerly linked to al-Qaeda, seized control of Damascus last December, formally ending Assad’s rule.

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