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Saudi Arabia is prepared to deploy ground troops to Syria to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) if US-led coalition leaders agree to the offer. Saudi's air force has targeted ISIL with air strikes since the campaign began in Syria in September 2014, but the Gulf kingdom is now ready to provide ground forces to defeat the armed group, a military spokesman said on Thursday.

Former UK Chief of Staff Lord Dannatt has called for a ground invasion against Islamic State (ISIS) on Monday, claiming that the cultural and security impact of the group calls for an international armed effort to expand beyond the current airstrike campaign. "The capture and likely destruction of the 2,000-year-old Roman colonnades at Palmyra, Syria, by Islamic State constitutes a potential cultural crime on a gigantic scale," Dannatt wrote in the Daily Mail. "These majestic ruins represent thousands of years of human civilisation and there is now surely no doubting just how great a threat IS [ISIS - ed.] poses...

It looks like the ideas of soft power and leading from behind aren’t quite as popular on the home front these days. By a wide margin, Americans voters support sending ground troops to fight Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday.Sixty-two percent said they support boots on the ground, while 30 percent said they do not. The response comes after well-publicized deaths of the group’s hostages, including the American captive Kayla Mueller, and the revelation that a militant in their beheading videos known as “Jihadi John” came from a well-educated, middle-class...

The next wave of American troops will begin moving into Iraq in a couple of weeks to train local forces, the top U.S. commander for the mission said Thursday while cautioning that it will take at least three years to build the capabilities of the Iraqi military. Army Lt. Gen. James Terry, who is leading the U.S. campaign to defeat Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq, said the challenge is to get Iraqi units trained and back into the fight so they can plan operations to regain contested areas such as Mosul. He said that while there has been...

There’s good news and bad news, everyone. The good news is that Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey is confident that all of the vast Iraqi territory lost to the Islamic State can be recovered. The bad news is that he thinks it will take no fewer than 80,000 “competent” soldiers to do it. Via Reuters: Iraq will need about 80,000 effective military troops to retake the terrain it lost to Islamic State militants and restore its border with Syria, the top U.S. general said on Thursday.“We’re going to need about 80,000 competent Iraqi security forces to recapture territory...

(Reuters) - The Obama administration will unveil a "more realistic" vision for the military on Thursday, with plans to cut tens of thousands of ground troops and invest more in air and sea power at a time of fiscal restraint, officials familiar with the plans said on Wednesday. The strategic review of U.S. security interests will also emphasize an American presence in Asia, with less attention overall to Europe, Africa and Latin America alongside slower growth in the Pentagon's budget, the officials said. Though specific budget cut and troop reduction figures are not set to be announced on Thursday, officials...

President Barack Obama will join top Pentagon commanders to unveil a new "more realistic" vision for the military, including cuts to ground force numbers as a result of budget strains, officials familiar with the plans said on Wednesday. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will hold a news conference fleshing out the contents of the strategic review of U.S. security interests after Obama's brief remarks on Thursday at the Pentagon, the officials said. They said the review would emphasize military investment in Asia as well as air and maritime power, while...

NATO commander Adm. James Stavridis says it is too early to be talking about an exit strategy from Libya. He said a ground force may be needed if rebels drive Muammar GaddafiMuammar Gaddafi out. "When you look at the history of NATO, having gone through this, as many on this committee have, with Bosnia and Kosovo, it's quite clear that the possibility of [the need for] a stabilization regime exists," he said. "And so, I have not heard any discussion about it yet, but I think that history is in everybody's mind as we look at the events in Libya,"...

Video - Are American Soldiers Already on the Ground in Libya?

Plans for North collapse discussed May 24, 2005 -- Contingency plans for a military response to a collapse of the North Korean regime ¡ª an issue that caused a diplomatic flap between Seoul and Washington earlier this year ¡ª were quietly discussed by U.S. and South Korean officials this month at a three-day meeting of the United Nations Command in Seoul, the JoongAng Ilbo has learned. No firm policy decisions were reached at the closed-door sessions, which took place May 10 to 12 at Yongsan Garrison, according to a participant in the meeting, who characterized it as essentially a brainstorming...