Alwaght- After Saudi Arabia declared its readiness to send troops to Syria along with Turkey, Syrian President Bashar Assad cautioned Riyadh and Ankara that any ground incursion will not be a “picnic.” More bluntly, Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem warned that foreign boots intervening in Syria would “return home in wooden coffins.”
Yet it is not only the Syrians who are rejecting this possible joint Saudi-Turkish ground incursion into the war-torn country.
Iran
The Iranian Foreign Ministry has warned that Turkey and Saudi Arabia’s military intervention will only exacerbate the conflict.
"Iran believes the crisis has become complicated and multi-layered due to regional and international meddling," Iranian Foreign Ministry’s official spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari was quoted as saying.
Tehran’s stance has been clear and cautionary as it warned against reckless actions that would lead to further chaos.
"Any new measure without coordination with the Syrian government and against the country's sovereignty will only complicate the matter and increase terrorist attacks," he added.
Noting that "aggressive policies of certain parties in Syria have led to nowhere”, Ansari said following this strategy will fail again.
Russia
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, for his part, has said that any ground operation by foreign troops in Syria will lead to "a full-fledged, long war."
“The Americans and our Arab partners must think well: do they want a permanent war? Do they think they can really quickly win it? It is impossible, especially in the Arab world. Everyone is fighting against everyone there,” Medvedev warned.
Meanwhile a Russian lawmaker has revealed that the invasion scenario is a result of the recent defeats that the foreign-backed armed terrorists have suffered.
Alexey Pushkov, the chairman of the international committee at Russia’s State Duma lower parliament house, told journalists:
"Naturally, developments in Syria are extremely disadvantageous for Ankara… We are fully aware that Turkey has contacts with Islamic State gunmen who are gradually losing their positions," Pushkov said
"Saudi Arabia has similar concerns, i.e. that radical Islamist groups it is supporting and sponsoring are now retreating," he added.
Turkey
Even the Turks are reluctant about the joint Saudi-Turkish invasion into Syrian territory. Parliament opposition representatives have rejected the possible intervention of their country considering what is at stake.
Aware of the military obstacles that the Turkish army would face in the event of a ground incursion, the CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu rejected the call.
"The [Republican People's Party] CHP is against every decision that would lead Turkey to a war," he tweeted.
In a similar stance, , Grand Unity Party (BBP) leader Mustafa Destici issued a statement voicing disapproval of joint military action in Syria.
Meanwhile, the opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) warned of grave consequence should Ankara proceed with such a move.
"… If a military operation is being planned in the name of executing or assisting global projects and cooperation is being forged with Saudi Arabia to that effect, the results could be terrible. It could lead to unimaginably grave consequences," MHP leader said.
Critically, former Turkish Foreign Minister Yaşar Yakış has warned that Turkey risks losing part of its territory if it intervenes in Syria and launches a campaign to claim Syrian land as its own.
“The world would not accept such interference [by Turkey's military in Syria]. It would not allow the border to be redrawn unilaterally. What's more, if the Turkish military faced defeat, Syria might reintroduce the claim that Hatay belongs to Syria,” he said.
Kurds
The Syrian Kurdish PYD party has also stood against the possibility of Turkish intervention in Syria. Saleh Muslim, the co-chair of the PYD, said that if Turkey intervened in Syria they would find "the entire Syrian people" resisting them.
Egypt
Egypt has additionally voiced opposition to the Saudi-led military intervention in Syria. Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry has said that the military option will not result in any solutions in or for Syria adding that the best way to achieve stability and unity in Syria would be to work through the UN and its envoy to reach an agreement.
Earlier this month, the Saudi regime declared its willingness to carry out ground operations against ISIS in Syria. However, Riyadh has long been calling for the ouster of Assad and has even expressed this as a priority over fighting terrorism, not to mention the fact that that the Saudi regime and Turkish authorities have been funding and backing the same groups they are claiming they want to fight.
