The United Arab Emirates (UAE) said on Sunday it was ready to supply ground troops to help support and train an international military coalition against Islamic State in Syria provided such efforts were led by the United States.
Asked whether the UAE could be expected to send ground troops to Syria, and if so under what circumstances, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said: “I think that this has been our position throughout … that a real campaign against Daesh has to include ground elements,” he said.
Accordingly, UAE is ready to join Saudi Arabia’s ground operation initiative in Syria. They are going to fight against terrorists together. It is hardly plausible that two states that are well known for backing of some radical Sunni terror groups, like Jabhat al-Nusra, and strongly oppose to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, are actually going to fight against their own clients. The real reasons are the recent developments on the ground, specifically:
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Significant successes by the Syrian army, especially in the Aleppo Province.
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The threat of total annihilation of their clients (Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaeda groups, etc.) which will lead to the full victory of Iran and Syria in the region, which would lead to intensifying Shiite struggle in the Arabian Peninsula.
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The desire to occupy the oil fields in Syria and Iraq. These territories will probably be transferred almost peacefully from “terrorist opposition” to “terrorist coalition”. Furthermore, Saudi and UAE armies are weak. The only chance they have is to gain a respite for their terrorist clients and use the US and Turkey’s umbrella in the North-East and East Syria.
We expect Qatar to say it is ready to supply ground troops to Syria next week.
