The United Arab Emirates said on Sunday it was ready to supply ground troops to help support and train an international military coalition against Islamic State in Syria provided such efforts were led by the United States.
“I think that this has been our position throughout ... that a real campaign against Daesh has to include ground elements,” UAE’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said, using an Arabic acronym for IS, Reuters reported.
Saudi Arabia also said last week it was ready to participate in any ground operations in Syria if the US-led coalition fighting insurgents decided to start such operations. Gargash said any potential supply of troops would not be particularly large.
“We are not talking about a thousand troops but we are talking about troops on the ground that will lead the way, that will train, that will support ... And I think our position remains the same and we will have to see how this progresses.” He added that the UAE had been frustrated at the slow pace of the international efforts against IS “although there has been some progress in Iraq recently, of confronting Daesh.”
