A short note sent by the Saudi Embassy in London on Friday said the intention was to “protect the worldwide organizations and their employees” presumably from coalition airstrikes. “At the moment it is not clear how many planes will come”, Cavusoglu said.
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Asked if Saudi troops could enter Syria from Turkey, Cavusoglu said: “This is a wish, not a planned thing”.
Saudi Arabia is to deploy military jets and personnel to Turkey’s Incirlik Air Base in the south of the country, Ankara said.
The comments came after Mr Assad vowed to recapture the whole of Syria and keep “fighting terrorism”.
Part two of Amanpour’s interview with the Saudi foreign minister, on the war in Yemen and human rights in Saudi Arabia, airs next week.
The United Nations flatly rejected the request and reminded Saudi Arabia of its obligations to allow humanitarian access in Yemen, where coalition warplanes have been pounding Shiite Huthi rebels for almost a year.
Some members of Congress are skeptical of Saudi Arabia’s commitment to reinvigorate its air campaign and grow Arab ground forces against the Islamic State in Syria – even after the Saudi foreign minister made a series of personal visits on Capitol Hill this week.
Turkey and Saudi back rebels who are seeking to oust Assad and both fear the West is losing its appetite to topple Assad on the assumption he is “the lesser of two evils” compared to the IS jihadists.
“We are bound by a common destiny”, he said. Syria is expected to loom large at this year’s event, which also features U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, among others.
“We are facing a strong counter-revolution that is complete, strong and backed by a detestable military coup, as well as a regional and worldwide conspiracy”, Karman said.
“I do not assess that the Saudi ground forces would have… the capacity to take this fight on”, Vincent Stewart, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told the Senate Armed Services Committee, according to the Hill.
Iran and Saudi Arabia were at the same table during six hours of talks in Munich among world and regional powers on Thursday to discuss Syria’s civil war, agreeing a “cessation of hostilities” to take effect in a week’s time.
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In another related development, the conflict is seeing a possible change in the current politico-military calculus on multiple sides as Saudi Arabia’s announced its plans of sending boots on the ground in Syria to combat ISIS.
