Sunday, February 14, 2016

Will Syria Be Saudi Arabia's Quagmire?

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir deliver a statement after a meeting at the State Department in Washington, February 8, 2016. REUTERS/CARLOS BARRIA

Awad Mustafa and Aaron Mehta, Defense News: Syria: 'Quicksand' for Saudi Forces?

DUBAI AND BRUSSELS — As the United States receives commitments from Gulf Arab allies to contribute more to a coalition campaign in Syria, doubts remain because of their ongoing military involvement in Yemen.

Furthermore, statements by unnamed Saudi officials earlier this month about a force of 150,000 — including troops from Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) partners Sudan, Egypt and Jordan — being prepared to invade Syria from Turkey have been rebuffed by at least two members of the anti-Islamic State coalition.

A Jordanian official confirmed that the country will not participate in any Turkish- or Arab-led Syrian invasion unless mandated by the United Nations, led by western forces and coordinated with Russia.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: If the above report is true, Saudi Arabia's allies are clearly not eager to get involved on the ground in Syria .... which leaves just Saudi Arabia and Turkey. And while I am sure that both countries would prefer to intervene to save their allies in Syria, the problem is that there is no end game to this conflict, and Syria's allies (Russia and Iran) have also made it clear that they would continue to assist Assad, and resist any pressure to have him remove.

No comments: