Kerry did not say which countries might be persuaded to take part in a ground operation.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Wednesday he was confident Middle East powers would send troops to help defeat the ISIS group in Syria.

Washington has so far resisted suggestions it put U.S. boots on the ground to add muscle to a year-old coalition air campaign aimed at breaking the militants’ grip on a swathe of Iraq and Syria.

But, in an interview with CNN, Kerry said he expected that when the time was right some of Syria’s neighbors would step up.

“We are talking about very specific ways to do that with other countries in the region,” he said.

“There will need to be people on the ground. I am convinced there will be at the appropriate moment,” he said.

“The president has made it very clear that American troops are not part of that equation,” he added.

“But I do know that there are others who are talking about it. There are people in the region who are capable of that.”

Kerry did not say which countries might be persuaded to take part in a ground operation