The tiny Persian Gulf island kingdom of Bahrain followed Saudi Arabia’s lead on Friday by announcing that it’s ready to send in ground troops to fight the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria. 

Bahrain is ready to deploy troops “in concert with the Saudis” the kingdoms ambassador to Britain, Sheikh Fawa bin Mohammed al-Khalifa, said in a statement quoted by Reuters. 

The United Arab Emirates is also ready to commit ground troops, he added. 

Mr. Fawaz also said that the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) group, of which his country is a member, is establishing a GCC naval operations center in Bahrain.

He says that this shows ‘the Gulf states are determined to take positive action within the region and globally to combat terrorism and extremism, from whatever quarter they emanate.”

Bahrain is a member of the US-led coalition against ISIS but has only carried out a small number of air strikes over the last year-and-a-half.