US sees Saudi Arabia and UAE sending commandos to Syria
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BRUSSELS - US Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Friday he expected both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to send special operations forces to Syria to help local opposition fighters in their drive to retake the city of Raqqa from Islamic State.
Carter, who has long sought greater participation of Sunni Arab allies in Syria, did not disclose how many commandos he expected them to deploy nor the timing of those deployments.
But he suggested they would play a major role taking back Raqqa, the Islamic State's defacto capital, from the militants.
"We're going to try to give opportunities and power to ... particularly Sunni Arabs in Syria who want to re-seize their territory back from ISIL, especially Raqqa," Carter told reporters travelling with him in Brussels.
