UAE says it’s prepared to send ground forces to Syria

On Thursday, Saudi Arabia announced that it is ready to take part in any US-led ground operation in Syria.

“We are talking about troops on the ground that will lead the way, that will train, that will support and so forth”, he said, adding that “US leadership on this” would be a crucial factor.

Saudi Arabia, a key backer of the opposition, meanwhile said it is ready, in principle, to send ground troops to Syria, albeit in the context of the U.S.-led military campaign against the Islamic State group. “Exactly what that’s going to look like and how that’s going to play out I just don’t think we can say right now”. It in turn accuses Riyadh of fomenting discord by backing rebels in Syria, going to war in Yemen and propagating an ultra-conservative Sunni Muslim school that declares Shi’ites heretical.

Brigadier Asiri said that the organisation of military exercises involving 21 countries is not easy, and this indicates that the infrastructure of Saudi Arabia including its ports, airports and roads is of an excellent standard. Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday that his government is providing aid to more than 30,000 Syrian refugees who are stranded on the Syrian side of the border and will allow them to enter Turkey “if necessary”.

“Any ground intervention on Syrian land without governmental authorisation would be considered an aggression ” We are sorry to say that any soldiers violating this will return to their country in a wooden coffin”, he said. Standing alongside Secretary of State John Kerry for remarks after their private meeting, Al-Jubeir said he is “determined to work with our allies in the United States” to bring stability to the region.

The Saudi kingdom’s offer to step up its role in the fight against ISIS came after recent military gains by Assad forces, backed by Russian airstrikes.

Syrian national TV said governmental troops captured the city of Ratyan, north of Aleppo. “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 The Jerusalem Post.