The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC) agreed here Sunday to call on Arab countries to recognize the Syrian National Council, an overseas opposition group, as the legitimate representative for the Syrian people, an Arab diplomatic source said.

"Gulf foreign ministers have agreed on asking the Arab countries to recognize the Syrian National Council as the legitimate representative for the Syrian people", the Arab diplomat, who required anonymity, told Xinhua.

The GCC held on Sunday a ministerial meeting to unify their stand on the Syrian issue before two Arab ministerial meetings in the Egyptian capital of Cairo on Syria.

The foreign ministers of Oman, the UAE and Bahrain attended the meeting while Qatar and Kuwait were represented by the premier and the foreign undersecretary respectively, Egypt's official news agency MENA reported.

The GCC countries have earlier decided to expel Syria's ambassadors and withdraw their own from Damascus.