Saudi forces participating in any US-led ground operation in Syria would focus on fighting the Islamic State group not President Bashar al-Assad, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister told AFP on Thursday. In an interview in Riyadh, Adel al-Jubeir also said separate Saudi-led military operations in Yemen would continue until the country's government is fully restored to power and that the kingdom would not cut oil production despite falling prices.
On Syria, Jubeir said any participating Saudi force would make the battle against IS the priority, despite the kingdom's longstanding opposition to Assad. "Saudi Arabia has expressed its readiness to send special forces to Syria as part of the coalition, with the goal of eliminating Daesh. This is the mission and the responsibility," he said, using an Arabic acronym for IS. "If they enter Syria, these forces will work in the framework of the international coalition to fight Daesh, there will be no unilateral operations," he said.
Asked if the mission could be expanded to include operations against Assad's forces, Jubeir said: "This would be something the international coalition would have to make a decision on." Saudi Arabia has backed rebel forces fighting Assad in the country's nearly five-year civil war and insists he must leave office for the country's conflict to be resolved.
It has been part of the US-led coalition bombing IS in Syria and Iraq since late 2014 but its participation declined after it launched the intervention against Iran-backed Huthi rebels in Yemen. "It's a matter of time before the international coalition in Yemen succeeds in restoring the legitimate government... in control of all of Yemen's territory," he said. "The support for the legitimate government will continue until the objectives are achieved or until an agreement is reached politically to achieve those objectives."
Saudi Arabia and a coalition of Arab allies began air strikes against the Shiite Huthis last March, after they seized control of large parts of Yemen and forced President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi's government to flee the capital Sanaa. The Huthis have also been supported by forces loyal to ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh. Jubeir said the coalition had helped the government reclaim more than three-quarters of Yemeni territory, open up supply lines for aid and "put enough pressure on the Huthis and Saleh for them to seriously consider a political process."
He dismissed claims that Saudi Arabia was mired in the conflict. "A very, very small part of our total military is involved in Yemen and it is not bogged down," he said. Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies have accused Iran of interference throughout the Middle East and Riyadh cut ties with Tehran in a major diplomatic row earlier this year. "If Iran wants to have good relations with Saudi Arabia there is a need for Iran to change its behaviour and to change its policies. Mere words will not do the job," the minister said.
He also rejected any suggestion that Saudi Arabia feels abandoned by its longtime ally Washington following Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers. "Absolutely not," the former US ambassador said. "I don't see any reduction of that relationship. If anything I see a strengthening of that relationship as time goes by." The kingdom is in a battle for market share with US shale oil producers and, as the largest member of Opec, has refused to cut output despite a fall of about 70 percent in global crude prices since mid-2014.
On Tuesday Saudi Arabia agreed with non-Opec member Russia to freeze output as long as major competitors follow, in an effort to stabilise the market. "If other producers want to limit or agree to a freeze in terms of additional production that may have an impact on the market, but Saudi Arabia is not prepared to cut production," Jubeir said.
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