Egyptian authorities will not accept any US suggestion to send troops to Syria, former General Intelligence undersecretary Mohamed Rashad tells Egypt Independent. His statements came in response to a Wall Street Journal article yesterday citing senior US officials claiming the Trump administration had asked Egypt to partake in a joint Arab taskforce backed by Saudi, the UAE, and Qatar, to replace US soldiers in Syria. Rashad said he believes military intervention is off the table for President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, who has maintained a neutral, diplomatic stance towards the Syrian conflict since the start.

Meanwhile, Saudi is considering sending troops to Syria “as part of broader international coalition to help stabilize” the situation, Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir said yesterday, the WSJ reports. “We are in discussions with the US and have been since the beginning of the Syrian crisis about sending forces into Syria,” he said. “Discussions on what type of force needs to remain…and where those forces should come from are ongoing.” He added that Saudi had offered to send troops to fight Daesh in Syria back in 2016 under a US-led coalition. He refused to say, however, “whether the kingdom made new financial commitments for Syria.”