Options for Saudi, which has an army of 175,00-200,000, range from a small token force operating alongside an estimated 50 United States special forces in Syria through to intervention on a larger scale, possibly through Turkey, to establish a safe haven for civilians and rebels opposed to the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad.
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Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir came to Capitol Hill this past week to sell the Saudi fight against the Islamic State.
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”.
The foreign minister reaffirmed the Kingdom’s willingness to send troops to Syria with a U.S.-led coalition.
When asked whether America was doing enough to help bring an end to the bloodshed in Syria, Jubeir said they are “playing a role” in the political process, in supporting the opposition, and helping Syria’s neighbors.
Turkey also wants Assad gone and has long maintained the bloody Syrian civil war and refugee crisis could have been avoided if Western powers had used force to remove him sooner.
Also at the Munich conference, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the deal on a temporary Syrian truce – which fell short of a lasting cease-fire – “must be successful, because the situation in Syria can not continue as is”.
Pointing to Saudi Arabia’s decision to sever ties with Iran, Zarif underlined that Tehran and Riyadh should not follow a policy of exclusion, bemoaning the fact that Saudis have been seeking to eliminate Iran from the political equations, including from the Syria peace talks.
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Saudi Arabia and Iran back opposite sides in the war in Syria.
Egeland said the task force’s main focus is gaining access to besieged towns.
“For the moment, we can be sure that Russia and Saudi Arabia hold identical or similar stances on the majority of global and regional problems such as non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD); organized crime, drug trafficking, trade in humans and the Arab-Israeli conflict”, the Russian diplomat said.
Jubeir reacted to that with mock incredulity.
The meeting of ambassadors and other envoys comes hours after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said following an ISSG meeting in Munich that their two countries would co-chair the Geneva meeting.
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“Iran is our neighbor”, he said.
