Morning Star.png Iran Steps Up After Turkish, Saudi Threats The Morning Star, London, 15 February 2016 Iran weighed into the rapidly escalating conflict in Syria yesterday, offering to defend its air space against threatened Turkish and Saudi aggression. General Farzad Esmaili said: "We will help Syria in a full-fledged manner if the Syrian government requests help." He said any such aid would be provided in an "advisory" capacity. Gen Esmaili's remarks came after Turkey and Saudi Arabia, leading supporters of Syrian insurgents, said they were ready to send ground troops into Syria, supposedly to to fight Islamic State (Isis). Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Saturday that Saudi Arabia is "ready to send both jets and troops" to Turkey's Incirlik air base, where four Saudi F16s are already reported to be stationed. US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter has been pushing for a ground offensive, ostensibly against the Isis stronghold of Raqqa, for months, recently securing a troop pledge from the United Arab Emirates. Two brigades of the US 101st Airborne Division have been deployed to neighbouring Iraq, and Turkey has massed three armoured, two mechanised and one motorised brigade along its southern border. Isis outflanked Damascus has responded to the threat of a US-led invasion of its territory by moving swiftly against Isis. A surprise offensive launched by the Syrian army late last week has outflanked Isis forces in Aleppo province to the south. Yesterday troops captured hills overlooking al-Zakia, mere miles south of the town of al-Tabqah on the M4 motorway between Raqqa and Aleppo. From: http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-e9e9-Syria-Iran-squares-up-after-threat s-by-Turkey-and-Saudi-Arabia#.VsFOM_l9600 -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
