Washington: Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al Jubeir on Monday held out the possibility of sending Saudi special forces into Syria as part of a US-led coalition against Daesh.
“There is a discussion with regard to a ground force contingent, or a special forces contingent, to operate in Syria by this international US-led coalition against Daesh and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has expressed its readiness to provide special forces to such operations should they occur,” he said.
Al Jubeir spoke to reporters after he met for the second day in a row with US Secretary of State John Kerry. Their talks focused on conflicts in Syria and Yemen. Al Jubeir declined to say how many troops Saudi Arabia might be prepared to send.
“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.”
Al Jubeir said the idea for a possible ground operation had come from Washington, and that members of the 65-strong coalition against Daesh would expect the United States to lead it.
State Department spokesman John Kirby confirmed that the United States welcomed the Saudi offer, and that discussions were ongoing, but would not comment on the nature or timing of any operation.
“We are talking about a ground element,” he said. “We have discussed the potential value of a special operations capability inside that element, which would be valuable.”
Last week an adviser to the Saudi defence minister said Saudi Arabia was ready to participate in any ground operation in Syria but did not specify the possibility of sending special forces.
Four months of Russian air strikes have tipped momentum towards Syrian President Bashar Al Assad in the nearly-five year Syrian civil war in which at least 250,000 people have died and more than 10 million have fled their homes.
The Syrian army advanced towards the Turkish border on Monday in a major offensive backed by Russia and Iran that rebels say now threatens the future of their nearly five-year-old insurrection against Al Assad.
US President Barack Obama has resisted committing US ground troops to the Syrian civil war given the US experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan, but he last year decided to deploy up to 50 US special operations forces “We welcome this proposal by the Saudis to intensify their efforts by introducing some sort of ground elements into Syria,” US State Department spokesman John Kirby said at his daily briefing. “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.”
