Saudi in talks with US over troop deployment in Syria

Saudi Arabia is maintaining talks with the United States about sending troops into Syria as phase of an awesome wider global coalition, the kingdom’s international minister has acknowledged.

In his feedback on Tuesday, Adel al-Jubeir acknowledged the deployment offer modified into once « now not new », adding that Riyadh had beforehand proposed the foundation to popular US President Barack Obama.

« We are in dialogue with the US, and produce collectively been for the rationale that starting of the Syrian disaster about sending forces into Syria, » al-Jubeir immediate reporters in Riyadh in some unspecified time in the future of a press conference alongside Antonio Guterres, the UN chief.

« We made a proposal to the [previous] Obama administration that if the US had been to send forces … then Saud Arabia would take into fable alongside with assorted countries sending forces as phase of this contingent. »

The dominion offered its readiness to deploy ground troops in 2016 to strive towards the Islamic Yell in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, fundamentally acknowledged as ISIS) in Syria.

Whereas Saudi’s air force partook within the aerial campaign aimed towards defeating ISIL from the very starting in 2014, the Gulf kingdom stopped looking out a corpulent ground troop deployment.

US forces in Syria

The news got here a day after the Wall Boulevard Journal reported US President Donald Trump modified into once looking out to assemble an Arab force that would possibly per chance perhaps embody Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to replace US army presence in Syria.

The force, which Trump’s new Nationwide Security Adviser John Bolton hopes will embody Egypt, would be guilty of stabilising the northeastern phase of Syria, constant with the represent.

Al Jazeera’s Patty Culhane, reporting from Washington, DC, primary that the US defence establishment « is going to be very wary » of the Saudi concept.

« There’s huge field amongst management internal the [US] army about the capability of Saudi forces – goal note at the battle in Yemen that the US has been serving to them strive towards with intelligence and refuelling, » acknowledged Culhane.

« There bring collectively been humanitarian catastrophes, numbers of schools and hospitals which had been hit, raising huge considerations amongst human rights activists. »

One other key query is what’s going to happen to US troops in Syria and whether or now not they’re expected to hand over as phase of an expanded mission, added Culhane. 

« [It is] with out a doubt now not obvious that Trump is going to be OK with that, » she added.

The US has an estimated 2,000 troops stationed internal Syria, constant with the Pentagon.