UAE ready to send ground troops to fight ISIL

The UAE is ready to send troops to Syria as part of an worldwide coalition to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), a government minister has said.

Saudi Arabian and Moroccan military forces have allegedly begun collaborating in order to launch joint ground operations against the so-called Islamic State (ISIS). Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said in January that the inaction by Gulf allies such as Saudi Arabia was “strange”.

It could be worse in Syria, where Saudi forces will not only come across ISIS but several other combatant groups some of which are also supported by Iran.

The Saudi proposal was welcomed by the United States, but it was ridiculed by the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and key ally Iran.

She didn’t shun aside the possibility of a ground Saudi intervention “not only because they want to make the Geneva conference a failure, but also to compensate for its consecutive losses in Yemen”.

“Let no one think they can attack Syria or violate its sovereignty because I assure you any aggressor will return to their country in a wooden coffin”, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said on Saturday.

If Saudi troops are sent, it will result in “coup de grace” for them, Jafari asserted, adding that “their fate is sealed”.

Since the outbreak of the civil war in Syria five years ago, Morocco has been actively participating in providing humanitarian relief to Syrian refugees. A Saudi-led coalition is battling Iranian-backed Houthi rebels who captured the capital of Sana’a in January 2015. Reacting to the Saudi plan Ira’s IRGC chief commander Mohammad Ali Jafari said that Saudi Arabia would not dare to dispatch troops to Syria and if the kingdom goes through such a plan, it would be suicidal.

Al-Jubeir said that the details of Saudi Arabia’s participation in Syria are being discussed by specialists.

“Saudi and Qatar have already networks on the ground”, he said, viewing Doha as a link between Riyadh and Ankara as relations improve. Saudi Arabia would like to demonstrate its resolve as a regional power.

He added that the UAE had been frustrated at the slow pace of the global efforts against Islamic State although there has been some progress in Iraq recently, of confronting Daesh.