Saudi troops deployment to Syria propaganda: Analyst

Press TV has interviewed Ibrahim Mousawi, a political analyst in Beirut, to discuss Saudi Arabia’s offer of troop deployment to Syria in order to participate in any ground operation against Daesh.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: So now what has brought Saudi Arabia to make this decision to send its ground troops because let’s not forget when you look at Yemen, the impoverished nation of Yemen, its ground troops have not been doing very well over there, have they? 

Mousawi: Absolutely you are very true. When you talk about the Yemeni quagmire and the Saudi forces that have not been able to defend themselves when it comes to the Saudi border with Yemen, when it comes to many areas, there is a total failure on many fronts in Saudi Arabia and they are not making any achievements, they are making prominent losses in different fronts in Yemen.

When they come to talk about readiness to deploy armies, ground armies, to be part of any offensive against Daesh in Syria, I believe this is a kind of propaganda; this is a kind of advertisement... We know very well that there is a growing persuasion, there is a growing conviction in the West and all over the world the Saudis are very close and they are the ones who are supporting Daesh and the Takfiri groups. They represent an incubator for them. They give them arms. They give them money. They funnel all kinds of support to them in order to kill in Syria, to kill in Iraq and in different places and even in Lebanon.

So maybe they want to make a kind of propaganda to say that they are against Daesh. All are associating Daesh with Saudi Arabia. Maybe this is a move only to try as much as they can to detach themselves from this campaign, true campaign, and the accusations that have all foundations, that have full base, that the Saudis are supporting Daesh.

Press TV: Then of course how is this going to pan out as far as the situation in Syria goes, because if we take what you have just said and put that into Syria, then it means basically Saudi Arabia sending ground forces means propping up groups like Daesh, like Jabhat al-Nusra even more?

Mousawi: We do not know how they are going to do that actually when they say they want to fight Daesh, they want to send ground troops, we know very well that they are supporting all the Takfiris there. Even when … we talk about Zahran Alloush and others, we are talking here about a kind of support that has been funneled to all Takfiri groups in Syria and even in Iraq. We know this very well and most of those who are carrying [out] the ... operations against the different positions, the Syrian army and even in the civilian areas, they are Saudi origin, they have Saudi nationalities.

So I basically believe that the Saudis are trying as much as they can to find a way in order to maybe help them not fight  them in order to try as much as they can to help them after the collapse and the defeat that they have been dealt especially recently in Aleppo. Why they said this right now? Why do they want to send ground troops right now? This is because of the collapse that happened for the Takfiris. I believe it is only enough for them to stop supporting and funneling arms and money to them and this will help a lot, I believe.

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