Gulf states discussing sending special forces to Syria

PARIS — Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab states are discussing sending special forces to Syria as part of US-led efforts to fight the Daesh terror group, Foreign Minister Adel Al Jubeir said on Tuesday.

"There are discussions, countries that are currently part of the coalition [like] Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain about sending in some special forces into Syria, and those discussions are ongoing. It's not excluded," Jubeir told reporters.

He said that the discussions were aimed at clarifying the needs and the objectives of such an operation, but that the picture should become clearer in the next few weeks.

Jubeir was speaking in Paris after outlining a separate initiative by Riyadh to set up a coalition of Islamic countries for counter-terrorism operations especially in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Egypt and Afghanistan.