Saudi Dissident: Riyadh's Syria Deployment Plan Seeks to Reverse ISIL Defeat in Aleppo

Saudi Dissident: Riyadh's Syria Deployment Plan Seeks to Reverse ISIL Defeat in Aleppo

"The liberation of the strategic town of al-Qusayr in June 2013 was a heavy blow to the Saudi government. That's why later Riyadh tried to prevent the liberation of Aleppo," Saudi dissident journalist Fou'ad Ebrahim wrote in an article for the Arabic-language al-Akhbar newspaper on Tuesday.

According to the journalist, the planned liberation of Aleppo by the Syrian Army and popular forces will be a huge defeat for the Saudi government.

On Thursday, the Saudi Defense Ministry said it stood ready to deploy ground troops to Syria to allegedly aid the US-led anti-ISIL, also known as Daesh, coalition.

Riyadh has been a member of the US-led coalition that has been launching airstrikes against Daesh in Syria since September 2014, without the permission of Damascus or the United Nations. In December 2015, Saudi Arabia started its own Muslim 34-nation coalition to allegedly fight Islamic extremism.

Daesh or ISIL/ISIS is a Wahhabi group mentored by Saudi Arabia and has been blacklisted as a terrorist group everywhere in the world, including the United States and Russia, but Saudi Arabia.

Syria, Tehran and Moscow have issued stern warnings to Riyadh, stressing that the Saudi intruders, who in fact intend to rescue the terrorists that are sustaining heavy defeats these days, will be crushed in Syria.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said Saturday that any ground operation in Syria without Damascus' approval is an "act of aggression", warning that the Saudi aggressors "would go back home in coffins".

In Tehran, Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari said Saudi Arabia doesn't have the guts to send its armed forces to Syria.

"They claim they will send troops (to Syria) but I don’t think they will dare do so. They have a classic army and history tells us such armies stand no chance in fighting irregular resistance forces," Jafari told reporters in Tehran on Saturday.

"This will be like a coup de grâce for them. Apparently, they see no other way but this, and if this is the case, then their fate is sealed," he added.

Jafari, said this is just cheap talks, but Iran welcomes the Saudi decision if they decide to walk on this path.