RIYADH — Brig. Gen. Ahmed Al-Assiri, spokesman of the coalition forces and advisor at the office of the minister of defense, announced that Saudi Arabia is ready to participate in any ground operations that the International Coalition against Daesh (so-called IS) may agree to carry out in Syria.
In an interview with Al-Arabiya TV, Asiri said, “If the leaders of the international coalition unanimously decided to carry out such operations, the Kingdom would be ready to participate in these efforts.”
Since late 2014 Saudi Arabia has been part of a US-led coalition which officially has 65 members and has been bombing the Daesh group, which seized large parts of Syria and Iraq.
Asiri is spokesman for a separate Saudi-led Arab coalition, which, since March, has conducted air strikes and ground operations in Yemen. That coalition supports the government there in its fight against Houthi rebels who seized much of the country and are backed by Iran.
Iran is also one of the main allies of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, whose regime has been fighting an insurgency for about five years.
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