He also said that Turkey and Saudi could even launch a ground operation in Syria against IS, while emphasising no decision had been taken.
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SPA said North Thunder is the “largest and most important military manoeuvre in the history of the region” and will see the use of an array of sophisticated military hardware. “They say they will enter Syria to make a strike on Islamic State (a terrorist organization outlawed in Russia), but indeed they want to interfere in Syria to save Islamic State”, the ambassador said.
Over 2,540 warplanes, 20,000 tanks and 460 helicopters will participate in the 18 day long exercise.
Speaking to this point, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said last week, “Unless and until there is a change in Syria, Daesh [Islamic State] will not be defeated in Syria, period”. When asked about presence of Indians in ISIS ranks in Iraq, the commander whose forces are battling terrorists in areas like Salahuddin, Anbar, Baiji said that they have “no such information”.
A Saudi source told AFP on Thursday that members of its “anti-terrorism” coalition, formed in December, will gather in Saudi Arabia next month for its first publicly announced meeting.
He also vowed “to prevent Daesh (Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group), Al-Nusra Front (the Syrian Al-Qaeda affiliate), America, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and their pawns from occupying Syria and Israel to realise their ambitions”.
“If there is a strategy [against IS] then Turkey and Saudi Arabia could enter into a ground operation”, he told the Yeni Safak and Haberturk newspapers. “Saudi Arabia has similar concerns, i.e. that radical Islamist groups it is supporting and sponsoring are now retreating”. That same air base has been something of a key strategic point throughout the conflict, already providing a base for the U.S. Air Force to conduct their activities.
The Iranian minister further criticized Saudi Arabia over crisis in Syria and Yemen urging for a political solution to Syrian crisis.
Both the Pentagon and the State Department have called on Turkey and Kurdish militants to take steps to prevent the violence from getting worse.
Anti-war activists must closely watch the events in Syria and oppose any invasion of Syria either by the USA or its regional partners, like Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
Syria has remained locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011 when the regime of President Bashar al-Assad cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.
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Saudi Arabia is now fighting Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.
