The US defence secretary has refused to rule out Saudi Arabia sending ground troops into Syria, but added that it was just one option and there were other ways the Saudis could contribute to the fight against Islamic State.
Ash Carter was speaking on the eve of a meeting of defence ministers from 49 countries at Nato headquarters to discuss how to step up efforts against Isis inSyria and Iraq.
He said the meeting was important “because we do need to accelerate the campaign and we have a very clear operational picture of how to do it. Now we just need the resources and the forces to fall in behind it.”
The speed of the advance into northern Syria of government troops, supported by Russian airstrikes and Iranian-backed militia, has taken the US-led coalition by surprise.
The Saudi defence ministry last week proposed contributing ground troops as part of an international effort in Syria. The Saudi defence minister and deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman is to attend the Brussels meeting, along with defence ministers from Nato countries and from the Middle East.
Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates have also offered ground troops.
Options for Saudi, which has an army of 175,00-200,000, range from a small token force operating alongside an estimated 50 US special forces in Syria through to intervention on a larger scale, possibly through Turkey, to establish a safe haven for civilians and rebels opposed to the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad.
There is concern and scepticism expressed at Nato HQ among non-US officials about the feasibility at this stage of a large-scale intervention. They questioned how fast Saudi could react and whether it could intervene militarily given its focus on its war in Yemen, and cautioned that the country had made promises before that proved empty.
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