Is Saudi Arabia to join USA for ground war in Syria?

 -Dr. Abdul Ruff

Of late, top oil nation Saudi Arabia is trying to exercise its diplomatic options in an assertive manner, though it knows too well that as an ally of USA can only play a subsidiary role in world affairs, entirely controlled by Washington and its western allies plus Israel.  However, Saudi rulers try to shore up diplomatic resources to boost the image of the kingdom.

Saudi Arabia is eager to show it is the top power of Mideast and West Asia and seeks to aids to help USA/NATO in fighting the so-called terror in Arab world. On February 04 Riyadh said that it is prepared to deploy ground troops to Syria to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) if the US-led alliance decides to start such ground operations in Syria

An adviser to the Saudi defence minister said 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 Asseri, who is also the spokesman for the Saudi-led Arab coalition in Yemen, told the Saudi-owned al-Arabiya TV in an interview said Saudi Arabia had been an active member of the US-led coalition that had been fighting Islamic State in Syria since 2014, and had carried out more than 190 aerial missions. He said Saudi Arabia, which has been leading Arab military operations against the Iran-allied Houthis in Yemen, believed that to win against Islamic State, the coalition needed to combine aerial operations with ground operations. Asseri said if there is 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”.

US State Department spokesman John Kirby said the coalition was generally supportive of having partners contribute more in the fight against Islamic State but he had not seen the Saudi proposal. "I would not want to comment specifically on this until we've had a chance to review it," he said to say something to Saudi Arabia to care human right ? its good hypocrisy indeed. what about UK who were part of killing 50 millions people in the name of Weapons of Mass Destruction and attacking Iraq?

Saudi's air force has targeted ISIL with air strikes since the campaign began in Syria in September 2014, but a military spokesman said the Saudi kingdom is now ready to provide ground forces to defeat the armed group.

UK participated in US led invasion of Iraq and party in murdering 50 millions of Iraqis in the name of bogus WMD, among others Arabs and Afghans. its now remembered by the UK to say something to Saudi Arabia to care human right ? its good hypocrisy indeed. what about UK who were part of killing 50 millions people in the name of Weapons of Mass Destruction and attacking Iraq? what about until today Saudi violation human rights and killing through beheading the Innocent persons without appropriate and transparent justice ? now west is turning toward Iran therefore Saudi seems not remain lucrative.

The already sour relationship between Russia and Turkey, backers respectively of the Syrian regime and rebels, has also worsened. Ankara accuses Moscow of being complicit in trying to impose a “starvation siege” on Aleppo while the Russians claim the Turks are planning to invade Syria.

The sending of ground forces by Saudi Arabia into Syria will have immense ramifications for the country’s civil war and the wider region and its further relations with Iran. Any Saudi troops going into Syria will find themselves at the centre of a highly combustible situation. Although the ostensible reason for their presence would be to fight ISIS, they may find themselves clashing with Iranian ‘volunteers’ and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters, thereby complicating the Sunni-Shi’a tensions. .

The leading Sunni state in the Middle-East, Saudi Arabia, will find itself in confrontation with the leading Shi’a state, Iran, and its allies. The bitter enemies have been engaged in proxy sectarian wars in a number of places, most currently in Yemen; this time they will be in the same battle-space.

The Saudi and other Sunni Gulf states are part of the US-led air campaign against Isis. But they have not even been taking part in this for months, forced to focus instead on air strikes on Iranian backed Houthi rebels in Yemen who are proving far harder to see off than expected. There was talk at the beginning of the campaign of an army of Sunni states going into Yemen. The Saudis did not offer to lead it, trying instead, unsuccessfully, to sub-contract this to the Egyptians and the Pakistanis. The task is now being largely undertaken by a force of mercenaries, including Latin Americans and South Africans, organised by a US company.

Adel al Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister, failed to make any mention of the proposed Syrian intervention when he gave interviews to foreign media outlets. This came, instead, later from a relatively junior official, Ahmed Asiri, a spokesman at the defence ministry. In a statement he said Saudi Arabia “is prepared to participate” in a ground operation in Syria, “if there is consensus among coalition leaders”. In other words the Saudis would join a ground force rather than be one themselves.

There is a possibility that the Saudis may join the Turks if Ankara tries to set up a buffer zone, as they had proposed in the past, inside Syria. But such incursion may lead to clashes with the Kurdish YPG group, enemies of the Turks, but allies of the Americans against Isis.

So, the scenario in Syria remains convoluted and confusing. There may be a bit more clarity on plans of the anti-Isis coalition after a NATO meeting in Brussels. It remains highly unlikely, however, that the Saudis will do anything on their own.

Saudi Arabia and Pakistan are the easy target for Washington to bully on some fake threat perceptions In order to bring the Saudi rulers to commit forces for war in Syria, USA employs the human right violations in the kingdom.

Meanwhile, Tobias Ellwood, the Foreign Office minister for the Middle East has urged Saudi Arabia to do a “better job” of trumpeting its human rights successes during an official visit to the country, less than a month after it carried out the mass execution of 47 people. He made the comments as he and other British delegates addressed Saudi Arabia’s National Society for Human Rights in the capital Riyadh. Leading human rights organisations described Ellwood’s remarks as “astonishing”, pointing out that Saudi Arabia, like Bangladesh kills opposition members, is currently presiding over a surge in executions and engaging in a brutal military campaign in Yemen that may be breaking international laws.

Recent cases which have drawn international condemnation include that of Raif Badawi, the liberal writer sentenced to 10 years in jail and 1,000 lashes for promoting free speech, and Ali al-Nimr, who was sentenced to death at the age of 17 for taking part in a pro-democracy protest. Nimr’s uncle, the Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, was among 47 people killed by Saudi Arabia earlier this month as part of the country’s biggest mass execution for more than 30 years. It has since emerged that two of those killed were minors at the time they were arrested.

During the visit, which was not publicized by the Foreign Office, Ellwood was told that Saudi Arabia had introduced a series of reforms, such as allowing women to vote in municipal elections. Accounts of the meeting that appeared in three Saudi media outlets claimed that Ellwood went even further, saying that people in Britain were unaware of the “notable progress” made on human rights by the Saudi regime.

It looks, Ellwood revealed the ignorance of the British to the notable progress in Saudi Arabia in the field of human rights, confirming throughout the visit of a British FCO delegation... that he had expressed his opinion regarding the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia before the British Parliament, and that the notable progress in this area has been obscured.” However, a Foreign Office spokesman strongly denied that Ellwood had used those words. “We do not recognize these remarks,” he said. “ Ellwood raised our human rights concerns in all of his meetings in Riyadh. The UK government will continue to raise our concerns in public and private. “The minister was very clear that despite some recent incremental progress – such as December’s municipal elections... in which women were allowed to stand and vote in – further progress still needed to be made.” Ellwood had been joined at the private meeting by Simon Collis, the British Ambassador, who stressed the importance of creating partnerships between human rights organisations in the two countries.

The chairman of the society, Dr Mofleh bin Rabiean Qahtani said Ellwood was concerned that some high profile individual cases were being “exploited, generalized and circulated” in order to discredit Saudi Arabia’s reputation, the press release said.

Human rights groups have criticized Ellwood’s comments.

Human Right watch insists that Saudi Arabia needs to release prisoners of conscience... to end rampant executions... and to ensure that the rights of women and repressed groups are properly respected. Maya Foa, of the human rights organisation Reprieve, said Ellwood told MPs earlier this month that Saudi Arabia was “making small progress” on human rights, but added that the Government still had serious concerns.

The Saudi announcement comes at a time when prospects for peace have faded with the collapse of the Geneva talks and the conflict has intensified with regime forces attempting to encircle Aleppo backed by heavy Russian air strikes. Has the UK now remembered to say something to Saudi Arabia to care human right? What about UK who were part of US led NATO  forces that killed millions people (an estimate says over 20 millions of Muslims) in the name of Weapons of Mass Destruction and attacking Iraq? It's good hypocrisy indeed! West raises Saudi violation human rights when that suits them and killing through beheading the innocent persons without appropriate reasons and transparent justice. Now after the nuclear deal the West is turning toward Iran as Saudi seems not very lucrative..

The question, however, is whether it will actually take place. Will the Saudi ground intervention against Isis actually happen?

The problem with Saudi kingdom is it needs to keep the West on board and yet contain their joint war on Islam as well as support for a basically criminal state called Israel. Riyadh on the one hand wants to lead Islamic world and, on the other, contain a powerful Iran. 

Saudi participation in Syrian war, however, would not do any good for Saudi rulers or Sunni nations.