White House Cheers Saudis' Military Plan in Syria

"So we certainly welcome the announcement from our partners in Saudi Arabia that they would be prepared to ramp up their commitment militarily to this effort," Earnest told reporters on Friday, Reuters reported.

He added that it was not clear whether the Saudi offer would include a significant contingent of ground troops or the deployment of special operations forces.

In the meantime, US State Department Spokesman John Kirby said the White House should talk to the Saudis about their plans and parameters for having boots in the Arab country. 

“We’ve just seen this proposal. We’re – I think it’s safe to say that we’re – that we obviously have some questions about it and are going to continue to talk to the Saudis about exactly what the parameters are here. But when we talk about no military solution, we’re talking about no military solution to the civil war, to the fight by the opposition against the regime. We’re not talking about the efforts to go after Daesh,” he told the reporters on Friday.

The remarks by the American officials came after Riyadh on Thursday announced that it plans to send ground troops to Syria to reportedly fight against the ISIL terrorists.

Soon after the announcement, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter hailed the Saudi offer to contribute to the US-led coalition and said, "That kind of news is very welcome”.

The so-called US-led coalition against Daesh has been carrying out airstrikes in Iraq and Syria since 2014, but it is accused of lacking seriousness in its campaign.