The oil-rich nation described the exercises as “the largest and most important” military drills in the region’s history.
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The forces participating in the exercise come from numerous countries, including land, air, and naval forces from Jordan, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Morocco and Egypt, to name a few.
Saudi Arabia has deployed F-15E strike fighters to the Turkish airbase at Incirlik, a forward base hosting United States lead coalition air forces operating against Daesh in Northern Syria.
While Riyadh says this necessary to “intensify” its operations against Islamic State in Syria, the move has sparked concern that the Saudis are getting ready for a full-scale ground invasion into the war-torn Syria, where they are backing anti-government rebels battling Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Gen. Jazayeri was responding to a question on whether Iran planned to send more military advisors to Syria were Saudi troops to be deployed there, risking a direct confrontation between regional rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia.
The shift would be from air to ground operations implying the deployment of Saudi troops inside Syria.
He also said that Turkey and Saudi could even launch a ground operation in Syria against IS, while emphasising no decision had been taken.
Cavusoglu said that Saudi officials arrived at Turkey and did a reconnaissance of the base. A Saudi source said on Thursday that members of the new “anti-terrorism” coalition will gather in Saudi Arabia next month for its first publicly announced meeting.
Jubeir said that Russia’s efforts to support Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad will not succeed in keeping him in power, adding that previous efforts to prop up Assad, including by Iran, had “failed”. Damascus and its allies will fight back in case of Saudi Arabia’s ground operation, Syrian Ambassador to Russia Riyad Haddad said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 television channel on Monday.
Iran earlier requested Switzerland to handle the interests of the Islamic Republic in Saudi Arabia which was accepted by Bern, Ansari said, adding the issue was finalized after Riyadh agreed with that.
Iran, a close ally of Syria, has been supporting the legitimate Syrian government in the fight against terrorists.
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Russian Federation and Saudi Arabia are backing opposing sides in the Syria conflict, and both countries are major oil exporters.
