Saudi troops walk
past armoured personnel carriers
"If there is any willingness in the coalition to go in the
ground operation, we will contribute positively in that," Brigadier
General Ahmed al Assiri told Saudi-owned al Arabiya TV.
Brigadier Assiri, a spokesman for the Saudi-led Arab coalition
battling Iran-allied Houthis in Yemen, said the Kingdom is an active member of
the coalition fighting IS in Syria, and had carried out more than 190 bombing
raids there since 2014.
But he believes the only way to defeat the extremist group is to
put boots on the ground.
"If there was a consensus from the leadership of the
coalition, the Kingdom is willing to participate in these efforts because we
believe that aerial operations are not the ideal solution and there must be a
twin mix of aerial and ground operations," he added.