The city has been targeted a number of times with cross-border fire and missiles since Saudi Arabia entered the conflict in Yemen.
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The meeting of the International Syria Support Group brought together foreign ministers from countries in the region and beyond with interests, in many cases conflicting ones, in the country’s crisis – including the U.S., Russia, Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Saudi officials told the Guardian after the announcement the operation could involve thousands of ground troops in coordination with Turkey, Syria’s northern neighbor.
One does not need to be a military strategist to know that any Saudi troops on the ground in Syria will find themselves face to face with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s remaining army and under heavy shelling by Russian fighter jets.
Moscow has said its air strikes are against the extremist militant groups Islamic State and the Nusra Front, but other countries and rebel groups say the attacks target civilians.
Saudi Arabia would be willing to commit special forces to Syria should the worldwide coalition decide to deploy ground troops against Islamic State, the country’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.
With the US, Britain, and other coalition members seemingly egging them on, Saudi Arabia has reiterated its plans to send ground troops to Syria to “fight ISIS”.
He added that the future Syria has no room for Al-Assad, affirming keenness on stepping up the political process in order to stop the current bloodshed as early as possible.
Maldives had in December signed up to be a part of the Islamic military alliance spearheaded by Saudi Arabia, in another move that showed the improving relations between the two Islamic countries. And therefore, the United States has regularly supported the Saudi Arabian government in everything that’s been done in Yemen. “I think that would be a challenge for them if they try to take that on”, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said Tuesday.
On Feb. 4, Saudi military spokesman Brig.
The rebels, whose main negotiators have been touring Europe in the wake of the collapse of the Geneva peace talks and the renewed assault on Aleppo, say a ceasefire can only happen in conjunction with a negotiated “political transition” – something which looks ever more unlikely in light of regime victories on the ground.
Washington’s response to the spat between Saudi Arabia – a longtime United States ally – and Iran, with which the Obama administration recently secured a historic nuclear deal, was not as supportive of the Saudis as the kingdom would have hoped.
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Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Saturday that strains between Russia and the West over Syria and Ukraine had plunged the world into a “new Cold War”.
