Russia urges Saudi explanation on Syria troops plan

Russia has urged Saudi Arabia to provide a detailed explanation of its plans to participate in a potential ground intervention in Syria, saying any such move should be coordinated with relevant authorities.

Mikhail Bogdanov, a Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, said Moscow had no “specifics” at the time about the plan for a possible ground incursion into Syria, the TASS news agency reported.

Bogdanov said any military action in Syria must be coordinated with the Syrian government or the United Nations Security Council.

“We believe that, just like Iraq, Syria is a sovereign state. It has a central authoritative power, and [military actions] should be coordinated with it,” the Russian official said.

Riyadh announced its readiness to send ground forces to Syria earlier this month. Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said on Thursday that Saudi forces would only focus on targeting ISIL terrorists if they were deployed to Syria.

“If they enter Syria, these forces will work in the framework of the international coalition to fight ISIL, there will be no unilateral operations,” added Jubeir.

Riyadh is currently a member of the Washington-led alliance carrying out airstrikes against what is said to be ISIL targets in Syria since 2014.

The kingdom has long been supporting certain terrorist groups operating to topple the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad since 2011.

ME