UAE says it is ready to send ground troops to Syria

Announcement comes after Syria issues threat, warning to send back any unwelcome foreign troops "in coffins".

The UAE has already deployed troops to Yemen to fight as part of the Arab coalition [File: EPA]

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is ready to send ground troops to Syria as part of an international coalition to fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, a top official has said.
The announcement comes just days after Saudi Arabia expressed the same position, saying that it was prepared to deploy troops to fight ISIL in Syria if the US-led coalition were to agree.

"Our position throughout has been that a real campaign against [ISIL] has to include a ground force," the UAE's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said at a news conference in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.
Gargash added that "US leadership on this" would also be a prerequisite for the UAE.
He did not elaborate about how many troops the UAE could send - but added: "We are not talking about thousands of troops".
Saudi Arabia, which has targeted ISIL with air strikes since the campaign began in Syria in September 2014, said on Thursday it was ready to provide ground forces to defeat the armed group