With the US, Britain, and other coalition members seemingly egging them on, Saudi Arabia has reiterated its plans to send ground troops to Syria to “fight ISIS.” The exact timing of the deployment and the size of the force are still a mystery.
It’s a deployment with a lot of import behind it, however, as Saudi Arabia has repeatedly threatened to remove the Assad government from power in Syria “by force,” and the Syrian government will definitely not be giving the Saudis permission to invade.
Russian officials are also warning against the deployment, with Premier Dmitry Medvedev warning that the Saudi invasion could spark a “new world war.” The US State Department dismissed the concern, insisting anything that happens would be Russia’s fault.
British officials also suggested sending Saudi troops would be a good way to scare the Russians away from Syria airstrikes, because they wouldn’t want to risk their trade ties. This seems to be a serious gamble, however, as Russia has a lot of interest in keeping the Saudis from imposing a settlement in Syria and trying to install a pro-US government there.
The Saudi Air Force has been bombing Syria since 2015 to fight the Islamic State. So it’s not like Saudi Arabia is “suddenly invading” Syria.
Of course Assad and Putin feel threatened by this escalation as Saudi Arabia is not against the Islamic State but Assad as well. It is unclear whether these Saudi troops will be used to fight against Assad in addition to fighting the Islamic State.
The Saudis are fighting both Assad and the Islamic State at the same time (in the form of air strikes). This is not dissimilar to how the U.S. is fighting fighting Assad and the Islamic State.
Saudi Arabia and the Islamic State are both Wahhabi and are virtually identical, so it’s pointless anyway for Saudi Arabia to fight against ISIS. Both states execute people for apostasy, witchcraft, sorcery and homosexual acts. There is a lot of bias and propaganda against the Islamic State but in reality the Islamic State isn’t a lot worse than Saudi Arabia if you examine the evidence carefully. Its alleged massacres against Shiites, Yazidis and Christians are greatly exaggerated. Probably the only thing that distinguishes the Saudis and ISIS is that the ISIS perpetuates terrorist attacks abroad and it kills people fleeing. Otherwise, there’s little difference. So yes, even the Saudis are influenced by anti-ISIS propaganda into believing that ISIS is worse than Saudi Arabia.
My main point is not to argue whether Saudi Arabia is secretly funding the Islamic State. (Indeed the Saudis might view Iran as more of a threat than the Islamic State). My main point that is to say that it’s best for Russia to stay out of it. Civilians are being slaughtered by Russia’s bombs and cluster bombs.
But of course Russia would be reluctant to back down because Saudi Arabia is not against the Islamic State but is also against Assad as well
(Putin’s ally).
Regardless, no one should applaud Russia for bombing Syria.
One might say: What if Wahhabism is taken over in Syria?
Read these:
Saudi Wahhabism is unstable, it’s not easy for the Saudis to perpetually enforce Wahhabism in another country let alone their own country.
The Islamic State could collapse by itself if we stop fighting against it. There are many secular elements within the Islamic State.
The simple answer is that Syria is a sovereign country and invited the Russians to help them battle what are mainly foreign terrorists and other foreign invaders like the U.S. and U.K. have no standing in Syria. There is no question that Saudi Arabia and Qatar are supporting ISIS and it’s quite likely that the U.S. has been indirectly supporting them as well as other terrorist groups. The Saudis would enter the war to support ISIS not fight them. The Saudis have no right to send ground troops to invade Syria and will regret it. They can’t even win a lopsided war in Yemen, one of the poorest Muslim countrie, where they are indiscriminately slaughtering civilians.
What nonsense. “No one should applaud Russia bombing Syria” but not a word on the U.S. bombing the Syrian infrastructure like power plants but leaving ISIS untouched until they were shamed into bombing them after Russia pointed out that ISIS weapons and oil convoys were never bombed by the U.S. during the year before Russian entry into the war.
Syria is just another secular Muslim country that wasn’t a puppet of the U.S. empire and needed to be dealt with. Afghanistan was dealt with early on by U.S. support of the Mujahideen, Iraq was destroyed, Libya was turned into a failed state and breeding ground for ISIS. Everything is going according to the AngloZionist plan.
I strongly condemn bombs from both sides, the U.S. and Russia. While the U.S. is the one who has perpetuated this mess, more violence isn’t the answer for resolving the violence.
Dropping bombs kills and injures civilians, traumatizes children who
survive, harms infrastructure, destroys housing, poisons the
environment, creates refugees, fuels bitter commitments to violence, and
wastes massive resources that could have gone into aid and rebuilding. This is the reason I am against bombs from both sides.
While I agree with you on the damage done by bombs and would prefer that none were dropped. However, the U.S. and it’s puppets are determined to turn Syria over to a Wahhabist regime or, at the very least, a failed state like they did in Libya. There comes a time when someone must stop this volent empire from continuing to destroy countries that won’t bend to their will.
Let’s be clear, the Deep State in the U.S. does not want peace and the only way to stop their rampage in the ME is to have a strong counter force and that’s were Russia/Iran come in. The only reason Kerry called for a recent peace conference is because Russia and the Syrian army were successfully breaking ISIS supply lines and moving on Aleppo. There can be a military solution and that is to eliminate ALL the terrorist in Syria incuding the ones the U.S./Saudis/Turks support.
If the Turks and Saudis got together to invade, it would most likely be from the north of the country, to defeat the Kurds. The Syrian government would probably not send their army to stop them – but they could send irregulars/paramilitaries to help the Kurds. Russia has been itching to shoot down some Turkish warplanes, and Hezbollah would love nothing better than to take on Saudi regular forces, who they view as the modern incarnation of the tyrants who murdered the family of the Prophet. It’s a true recipe for escalation.
It is the same war crime as the Hungarians joining the German Wehrmacht to fight in the Soviet Union.