DUBAI, (Reuters) – Four more members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have decided to close their embassies in Syria over its violent crackdown on mass protests against President Bashar al-Assad, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA)reported late on Thursday.

United Arab Emirates, Oman, Kuwait and Qatar follow in the footsteps of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, the other two members of the six-nation grouping, which announced they were closing their embassies in Syria earlier in the week.

SPA quoted GCC Secretary General Abdullatif al-Zayani as saying in a statement that the move demonstrated a rejection of “the Syrian regime’s continuing killing and tormenting of the unarmed Syrian people, its insistence on the military option and ignoring all efforts for a way out of the tragic situation lived by the brotherly Syrian people”.

Zayani called on the international community to “take firm and quick measures to stop the killings, torture and blatant violation of the dignity of the Syrian people and its legitimate rights”, SPA said.