Saudi envoy: Aid groups in Yemen urged to ‘be careful’

Iran and Saudi Arabia must overcome years of strained relations and work for stability in Syria and the Middle East, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif said on Friday.

“We will discuss details with experts from the countries involved to decide on the nature of the participation”, Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told reporters during a visit to Morocco.

Saudi Brig. Gen. Ahmed Al-Assiri says Saudi Arabia is “ready” and willing to fight with U.S.-led coalition forces against Islamic State in Syria, reports Saudi Arabia’s Al-Arabiya news Thursday.

The Syrian civil war which unexpectedly drags on for five years now has just entered a critical juncture as the conflict now claimed 470, 000 lives or 11.5% of the country’s population according to new research findings by the Syrian Center for Policy Research (SCPR).

Meanwhile, Jubeir said “of course, there is a Plan B in case the political process fails in Syria“, and insisted there is no place for President Bashar Assad in the future of Syria.

“We will welcome a more constructive role of Russia in the fight against ISIL”, Stoltenberg said, adding that Russian air strikes against opposition groups have “undermined the efforts to reach a negotiated political solution”. Turkey particularly wants to prevent the Syrian Kurdish militia force, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), advancing west of the Euphrates and linking up with the Kurdish enclave of Afrin.

Mass shootings are rare in the kingdom. It must be mentioned that the regime struggled to assemble an Arab coalition willing to send ground troops to Yemen and seemed unwilling to go to war in Yemen alone.

Were Saudi troops to deploy to Syria, they could come into direct contact with the military of Iran — Saudi Arabia’s longtime foe in the region, with whom tensions have been rising of late. He continued, “We have no ill will towards Iran”.

Assiri also said that if Riyadh’s main regional rival, Iran, is serious about combating terrorism in the region it must stop supporting “terrorism” in both Syria and Yemen. “We are bound by a common destiny“, he said.

Jubeir reacted to that with mock incredulity. “Anything that helps save lives in the eastern Med and helps disrupt criminals behind this trafficking is extremely welcome and we will be looking at that proposal very seriously”, he said.