Saudi Arabia has offered for the first time to dispatch ground troops to Syria to aid the U.S.-led coalition in the fight against the Islamic State group.
"The kingdom is ready to participate in any ground operations that the coalition (against Islamic State) may agree to carry out in Syria," Brigadier General Ahmed Asiri told the Saudi-owned al-Arabiya TV, reported The Independent.
If coalition forces agree, Saudi Arabia could deploy thousands of special forces troops in coordination with Turkey, sources told The Guardian.
Saudi Arabia has been actively conducting airstrikes with the coalition against the Islamic State group since the campaign began in September 2014, but the strikes are not having the expected impact, Asiri said.
"If there was a consensus from the leadership of the coalition, the kingdom is willing to participate in these efforts because we believe that aerial operations are not the ideal solution and there must be a twin mix of aerial and ground operations," he said, adding that they are determined to "fight and defeat Daesh."
Saudi Arabia, like the U.S., has backed various extremist rebel groups in Syria who are fighting against both the Islamic State group and the Syrian government. Iran and Russia, on the other hand, are supporting the Syrian government as it fights against the rebels and Islamic State group.
President Obama has repeatedly said that he would not put boots on the ground in Syria, but he has made an exemption for Special Operations forces, and Defense Secretary Ash Carter recently said that the administration will eventually be sending in a larger number of combat troops, reported Fox News.
U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said that he had not yet seen Saudi Arabia's proposal and therefore did not want to comment, but he emphasized that the coalition generally accepts additional help from coalition members. "I would not want to comment specifically on this until we've had a chance to review it," he said.
The Saudi announcement came a day after the United Nations temporarily suspended peace talks aimed at ending the five-year-long Syrian civil war. Talks began just days before, but they were postponed until Feb. 25 after pro-Assad forces cut of a vital supply line for rebels north of Aleppo.
