Saudi Arabia has also said it is prepared to take part in ground operations in Syria if the US-led coalition decides to go in that direction.
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U.S. President Barack Obama has resisted committing U.S. ground troops to the Syrian civil war, but has sought greater help from regional leaders in the Middle East in the fight against Islamic State.
Saudi Arabia’s military spokesman said late Thursday that the kingdom is determined to defeat the Islamic State group and could provide ground troops if coalition members agree to such a deployment when defense ministers meet in Brussels later this month.
Tehran says it has sent “advisors” to Syria but insists it has not dispatched ground troops – though various Iranian-backed militias are also fighting alongside Syrian government forces.
Alloush said that the Syrian government and Russian Federation, who has been carrying out air strikes in support of its ally since September 30, were behind the failure of the talks. Stemming from this relationship, the north African country has been participating in the Saudi-led airstrikes against the Houthi rebels in Yemen, which aim to restore legitimacy to the country’s now contested government.
Syria, however, have responded by warning against foreign intervention, and threatened that all foreign army soldiers who enter Syria without the consent of President Bashar al-Assad’s government would “return home in wooden coffins”.
The semi-official Fars news agency quoted Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari, commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, as saying he didn’t think the Saudis were “brave enough” to send ground troops.
Another former United States diplomat told Newsweek that the Saudi military was too “heavily committed in Yemen” to be able to effectively commit to another operation in Syria.
However just a few days after launching the talks, the United Nations suspended peace talks suggesting that they will resume since February 25.
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“They are overstretched. But in principle I think they will not hesitate to send a certain number of their fighters to fight in Syria”, Alani said, adding that this would probably include Saudi special forces. Syria’s military, flanked by Russian and Hezbollah troops, made major gains in the rebel held city of Aleppo last week in a bid to recapture one of the country’s most populous settlements.
