AMMAN —AlGhad— Pentagon Spokesman Eric Bahon stated today, Thursday, that the US is officially engaged with Arab states in negotiations to possibly substitute American troops in Syria with Arab forces.
A recent Wall Street Journal uncovered that the new American national security adviser, John Bolton, has been making calls to address the US proposal.
Mr Bolton had called the Egyptian intelligence chief, Abbas Kamel, to ask Cairo to contribute to the building of an Arab force to Substitute US troops in Syria, according to WSJ.
Saudi foreign minister, Adel Jubeir, said his government was talking to Washington about raising such a force, confirming the report, according to the Guardian.
This is not the first time the idea of an Arab coalition force is in Syria is suggested, supposedly to combat extremist groups and contain Iranian influence.
Senior fellow for Middle East security at the International Institute for Strategic Studies Emile Hokayem, told the Guardian that “The idea of an Arab expeditionary force emerges every couple of years, and it’s always seen as a politically brilliant idea to create a sense of ownership in the region.”
He further elaborated it was politically impossible to put together such a dynamic.
Since 2015, the idea had surfaced several times but has always faced severe problems, especially with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates stuck in Yemen.
Both have little manpower and few military resources to spare, the Guardian underlines, in addition to the dispute with Qatar.
Arab states could fund an army run by private contractors and possibly recruit soldiers from developing countries such as Sudan, Erik Prince, told WSJ.
Prince is a Trump ally who founded the military contractor Blackwater USA and now advises the UAE. He is now lobbying to play a role, also according to the Journal.
However, Charles Lister, the director of the extremism and counter-terrorism programme at the Middle East Institute (MEI), said the proposal is “not precedent.”
“It sounds like the Saudis are continuing to align themselves with President Trump and not speaking the 100% truth about their intent,” he said.
Any Saudi troops deployed to Syria would find themselves directly confronting Iranian fighters and their allies. This, in turn, could prompt a dangerous escalation in the conflict, he underlined.
Director of back-channel Track II diplomacy programme Randa Slim. at MEI, said: “It is one thing for the Saudis to pay for other ‘Islamic forces’ to do the job, and a totally different thing to send their men to a conflict theatre where they are bound to enter into direct confrontation with an entrenched Iranian-Hezbollah force.
(The Guardian/Wall Street Journal)
