Saudi Arabia plans to deploy troops in Syria

Middle East, News February 9, 2016 , by IRIA No Comments

Saudi military spokesman Brigadier-General Ahmed al-Asiri said his country is prepared for a land war in Syria, Asharq al-Awsat reported.

Asiri also said that Saudi Arabia would be willing to join any broader international ground force in Syria.

Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs, Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir, stressed possibility of sending Saudi special forces to Syria within framework of the coalition led by the United States of America against Daash terrorist organization.

In a statement to reporters following his second meeting with his US counterpart John Kerry, Al-Jubeir said: “There are discussions relating to send a division of ground troops or special troops to work in Syria with the international coalition led by the United Sates against terrorist groups. The Kingdom expressed its readiness to provide special forces for such operations.”

Speaking after a meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry, Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said any operation would be US-led but that Saudi Arabia would play a leading role.

“The United States government was very supportive and very positive about the kingdom’s readiness to provide special forces to the operation in Syria, should the international coalition make a decision to do so,” he told reporters.

“So the kingdom will be part of it,” he said. “That support came from the White House, it came from the State Department, it was natural for Secretary Kerry to support such a decision.”

US Department of State welcomes Saudi readiness to send troops to Syria

United States has welcomed willingness of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to deploy private forces for supporting a possible ground operation of the international coalition in Syria.

During the press briefing, spokesperson of the US Department of State John Kirby said: “we welcome this proposal made by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to intensify its efforts through sending ground troops to Syria. This proposal puts more pressure on Daaesh (ISIS) and supports the international coalition’s efforts to destroy the regime in Syria.”

However, some analysts are skeptical that the Saudi plan to send troops would actually be carried out.

“The Saudis are not ‘fully prepared’ for a land intervention in Syria. They can hardly move forward with ground forces in Yemen and don’t have high-capacity forces to spare,” David Andrew Weinberg, a specialist on Gulf affairs and a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies told media.