By
Sattar Rind
The Syrian issue, it seems, is going to be the cause of World War III. At the very least an explosive move is on the verge of erupting, something that would definitely engulf the rest of the world.
Since Saudi Arabia announced that their ground troops would enter Syria to combat ISIS, they have started to gather their army, initially of 150,000, on the southern border of Syria to invent and initiate a ground fight against ISIS.
It has been announced by the Saudi Arabian military spokesman Brigadier General Ahmed Asseri that Saudi Arabia is prepared to deploy ground troops to Syria to fight ISIS.
He has also claimed that having experienced fighting in Yemen against the Houthi tribes, they now have the expertise to defeat ISIS in Syria. There was though no need to mention this, but they did and there must be something behind this statement. That is why the Russians are specifically refereeing such claims, responding that they totally failed to defeat the Houthi tribe in Yemen.
Meanwhile the US defense secretary Ashton Carter welcomed the Saudi offer to participate in ground operations in Syria. However they refused to send any further army support to the Saudi Arabians on this occasion or for any ground fight against ISIS in Syria. There are officially only 50 personnel of the US Special Forces army currently in their support.
Saudi Arabia claims that the 34 countries of the Islamic Military Alliance (IMA) will also be in support of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Turkey’s intervention in Syria. The Alliance, in which Pakistan, despite not having categorically refused to be part of this venture, have stated via the foreign affairs advisor Sartaj Aziz that they have not yet decided anything about this and whether or not they are going to send their army. Nevertheless he said that Pakistan is in the process of thinking and they have seven or eight options in this regard.
Before this clarification by Pakistan the United Arab Emirates announced that they will follow Saudi Arabia, but categorically mentioned in their statement that they would be part of this game if the US was ready to lead it or that they will only fight under the United States’ lead.
Following this statement the Syrian foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem, in a press conference warned Saudi Arabia that if foreign army soldiers tried to enter Syria without the Syrian government’s consent, they would “return home in wooden coffins.” He further declared that such intervention could be considered as aggressive and that should be held by any Syrian citizen.
However the Syrian foreign minister found such a move from Saudi Arabia unlikely, though at the same time also termed the Saudi Arabian leadership “crazy” and said “they are unpredictable and everything could be possible from them.”
The Syrian foreign minister has surprisingly stated repeatedly that this warning applied to anyone who would dare attack or breach the sovereign borders of Syria. It has been reported that such word – “anyone” has been repeated by him no less than three times. Therefore it seems he was all along only warning the US/NATO, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE and Turkey.
There are also reports the Syrian government is seizing control against the so called rebel fighters and ISIS who are fighting to remove Bashar al-Assad from government. In the same press conference the Syrian foreign minister claimed that anyone may believe it or not but they are going to finish the war against ISIS and the rebellions and that the Syrian people would soon observe peace.
This has also been indicated by the ex-Prime Minster of the UK Tony Blair in a recent article published by his own organization the ‘Tony Blair Faith Foundation’. Besides, columnist Alastair Crooke in his 8th February piece published in the World Post under the title ‘The Syria War Will Not Be a Quagmire — Because Putin and Assad Are Winning’, is nothing but supporting hints as to what the Syrian government is claiming.
Following the Syrian foreign minister’s press conference, Iran, a Syrian allied country, also criticized the news that Saudi Arabia is going to deploy troops to Syria. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Commander Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, with a taunting tone, said that Saudi Arabia will not dare send their army into Syria and that he does not consider Saudi Arabia brave enough to take such a risk, as they have a tradition of claiming big but lack a challenging courage. “However if they did enter Syria they would definitely face defeat. Let them come” he concluded.
On the same issue Russia did not remain silent and the country’s army spokesperson said that “they are watching the issue very carefully and the moves of Saudi Arabia.”
Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s Prime Minister, was quoted in Germany’s ‘Handelsblatt’ daily that “The Americans and our Arab partners must think hard about this – do they want a permanent war? All sides must be forced to the negotiating table instead of sparking a new world war.”
In this situation it seems that both parties are vigilant and very much aware that any mistakes may lead them to World War and that if war breaks out then both parties will be losers, along with the rest of the world.
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