There was no commitment made in terms of the number of soldiers Saudi Arabia could potentially commit to a ground assault in Syria, but Al Jazeera reported that the offer would be discussed during a Brussels meeting next week of countries involved in fighting Isis.
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“Any ground intervention on Syrian territory without government authorization would amount to aggression that must be resisted”, Muallem said, as cited by Reuters.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem warned Saudi Arabia not to send troops to his country, threatening, during a press conference Saturday, that troops would be sent back home in coffins.
Saudi Arabia said on Thursday it was ready to participate in any ground operations in Syria if the U.S.-led alliance decides to start such operations, an adviser to the Saudi defence minister said.
Meanwhile, the delegation, representing the Syrian government, was ready to give some concessions to the Saudi-backed opposition group trying to make them to stay in Geneva, so the negotiations could go on; however, the Saudi-backed group assumed a non-constructive stance and left the reconciliation talks, Russian envoy at the UN Alexei Borodavkin said.
“We hope that this dialogue will be successful to help us in having a national unity government”, Muallem said.
Opposition representatives have said they can not be expected to negotiate in Geneva at a time when the Syrian government and its allies, including Russian Federation, are escalating attacks on rebel strongholds.
Asked about the possibility of Saudi ground troops entering Syria, he said logic would suggest this is unlikely, but that “with the insane Saudi leadership nothing is far-fetched”.
He called on rebel fighters to “come to their senses” and lay down their weapons. He warned Saudi Arabia that any aggression on Syrian soil would result in the aggressors being sent home in wooden (coffins).
“They talk big”, Jafari said.
He says that Russia’s role won’t end until the defeat of the Islamic State, Jabhat al-Nusra and other groups tied to al-Qaida, which is in accordance with United Nations resolutions.
He said the Syrian delegation was the first to arrive in Geneva, adding that all the government asked for was a list of the opposition groups that were planned to take part in the talks.
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“They came because pressure was practiced on them to come, not because they wanted to negotiate”, he said, adding that “such opposition don’t belong to the Syrian people and they don’t have the leverage to negotiate”.
