Ankara – Al Arabiya – A Saudi official has confirmed that Riyadh has sent warplanes to Turkey’s southern Incirlik airbase, a move considered as preparation for the campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said: “From the very beginning, Turkey and Saudi Arabia have been in favor of a ground operation in the fight against [ISIS].

“We have been saying in all meetings of the [anti-ISIS] coalition that there should be a comprehensive and outcome-oriented strategy. We have said if such a strategy is implemented, we, as Turkey and Saudi Arabia, can join a ground offensive.”

However, Turkish Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz on Monday said his country was not considering sending troops.

Cavusoglu says if ISIS is eradicated, the world will not have to accept Syria’s Assad as the lesser of two evils.
Turkish troops
In recent weeks, there has been speculation that Turkey might be preparing for an incursion into Syria.
 

A Turkish soldier stands guard while smoke rises in the Syrian town of Kobane as it is seen from the Turkish border town of Suruc.

However, Sinan Ulgen, a former Turkish diplomat who now chairs the Istanbul-based Center for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies (EDAM), said this was unrealistic under present conditions.

“It will only happen if the United States gives its support and participates in such an expeditionary land force,” Ulgen told Al Arabia English.

“That seems unlikely since the United States doesn’t attach the same priority to pushing back regime forces, which seems to be one of the key motivations behind the alleged Turkish-Saudi alliance.”

Ulgen says the most likely scenario at present is the Saudi air force participating in the anti-ISIS campaign from Incirlik airbase.
 

In this photo made from the footage taken from Russian Defense Ministry official web site on Monday, Feb. 1, 2016, an aerial image shows what it says is a column of heavy trucks carrying ammunition hit by a Russian air strike near Aleppo, Syria. (AP)