The Saudi Arabia is reportedly willing to deploy special operations forces to Syria.
Akil Mahfoud, chief of the foreign relations department at the Syrian Ministry of Higher Education, told Russian news agency RIA Novosti that Saudi Arabia offered to send ground troops to the Syrian battlefield to ostensibly fight against ISIS but Riyadh will in fact assist terrorist groups in the war-torn Arab country.
He said that the oil kingdom would provide extensive support to notorious terrorist groups, such as al-Nusra Front and Ahrar ash-Sham under the guise of fighting ISIS. And any intervention in Syria would undoubtedly be carried out to change the course of the war in the country. He stressed that it will hinder the success of the Syrian Arab Army since Saudi would not be fighting against ISIS regardless of what Turkey and Saudi Arabia claim.
Akil Mahfoud said that Riyadh wants its army into Syria because Damascus-led forces helped by Russian Aerospace Defense Forces and Hezbollah fighters had lately been on an offensive, while terrorist groups were losing. He also included that the SAA has recently scored major victories in the provinces of Aleppo, Latakia and Daraa.
“Among other things [the Saudis] don’t like that the United States and Russia see eye to eye on several issues. [Riyadh] needs a Turkish or Saudi adventure in Syria to upset the power balance on the battlefield and in politics,” the political scientist said.
Riyadh already announced on Thursday that it was “ready to participate” in a ground campaign in Syria if the US-led coalition would choose to put boots on the ground.
According to several media reports the Saudis are rumored to be willing to deploy special operations forces in coordination with Turkey.
However, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are part of the US-led anti-ISIS efforts but Riyadh and Ankara’s commitment to confronting the brutal group has been questioned. Riyadh have mounted a military intervention against Yemen, while the Turks are cracking down on the Kurds. Many human rights groups said that both operations had been committing humanitarian disaster.
The Russians, Syrians, etc. will pulverise them.