The United States says Saudi Arabia has proposed to expand its role in the air campaign by the US-led coalition�on purported positions of the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group.

US Defense Secretary Ash Carter was speaking�on Thursday following a meeting with Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud, who also serves as the kingdom's defense minister, at NATO headquarters in the Belgian capital city of Brussels.

"The [US defense] secretary thanked the deputy crown prince for participating in today's meeting of [NATO] coalition defense ministers, and for Saudi Arabia's decision to increase its military contributions, especially the Kingdom's offer to expand its role in the air campaign,"�Peter Cook, Carter�s spokesman, said in statement.

Saudi Arabia is a member of the US-led coalition that has been conducting air raids against what are claimed to be the Daesh elements inside Syria without any authorization from Damascus or a UN mandate since September 2014. The US-led strikes have, on many occasions, targeted Syria�s infrastructure�and left many civilians dead.

This is while Riyadh has been among the staunch supporters of the Takfiri militants operating to overthrow the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad since early 2011.

Recently, Saudi Arabia also expressed its readiness to get involved in a ground operation in Syria.

Although swiftly welcomed by allies like Washington, the proposal attracted heavy criticism from Damascus, with Syrian Foreign Minister�Walid al-Muallem saying �coffins� await any aggressor to the Arab country.

Saudi 'irreversible' decision�to send troops to Syria

In a relevant development on Thursday, the Saudi state TV quoted Ahmed Asiri, spokesman for the kingdom�s Defense Ministry, as calling �irreversible� Riyadh�s offer�to send ground troops to Syria.



[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="555"] Ahmed Asiri, spokesman for the Saudi Defense Ministry �AFP[/caption]

The state TV further quoted Asiri as saying that�Saudi Arabia wanted the US-led coalition to agree to the kingdom's deployment.

Last September, President Assad warned that the territories held by Daesh had expanded while the number of�militants had increased since�the beginning of�the US-led campaign in the Arab country.

By Press TV