Saudi Arabia and allies gather for major military exercises

The news agency described it the “most important and largest in the region’s history” in terms of the number of nations taking part and the weaponry being used.

Most of the personnel will be Saudis; troops from Egypt, Sudan and Jordan have already arrived in the kingdom for the exercise, and troops from other countries – Morocco, Turkey, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar – are expected, the officials said.

In December 2015, Saudi Arabia also announced the formation of a 35 member state military coalition with the stated goal of “fighting terrorism” in Islamic countries.

Syria’s state news agency SANA and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday that government forces took the villages of Ahras and Misqan in the northern province of Aleppo.

The United Nations says more than 6,100 people in Yemen have been killed in the conflict since March, about half of them civilians. But if that doesn’t work, it will be because of the obstinance of the Syrian regime and that of its allies.

“Syria is a big country… which has been fighting terrorists for five years”. The kingdom’s military also recently said it would be willing to engage in a ground battle with militants from the terror group, whic hprompted an angry response from Damascus.

The agreement between the U.S., Russia and other major powers with interests in Syria provides for a “cessation of hostilities”, however, a Russian commitment to cease its bombing campaign against Syrian opposition forces was noticeably absent.

Iran, Syria’s regional ally, supports President Bashar al-Assad and has sent “military advisors” and volunteers to fight alongside the Syrian army.

U.S. President Barack Obama has ruled out sending U.S. ground troops to Syria.

Meanwhile, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told Reuters that calls for a ground operation went further than Ankara and Riyadh.

If a political process fails, “there is no option to remove Bashar al-Assad except by force”, al-Jubeir said.

Dubai-Saudi Arabia has deployed warplanes to a Turkish airbase in order to “intensify” its operations against the Islamic State group in Syria, a senior Saudi defence official has said.

Press TV: What do you make of Turkey and Saudi Arabia now both of them have actually threatened to send ground troops into Syria?

The Saudis claim to have made plans for a ground operation, saying it was being done in coordination with the U.S.-led, anti-ISIS coalition.