SAUDI Arabia has deployed warplanes to a Turkish air base in order to “intensify” its operations against the Islamic State group in Syria, a senior Saudi defence official has said.

“The Saudi kingdom now has a presence at Incirlik air base in Turkey,” Brigadier General Ahmed al-Assiri was quoted as saying by Al-Arabiya television late on Saturday.

“Saudi warplanes are present with their crews to intensify aerial operations along with missions launched from bases in Saudi Arabia,” General Assiri said, without providing further details.

The announcement came as President Barack Obama held a phone meeting about the Syria crisis with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

The White House confirmed the conversation between the leaders on Sunday.

“In particular, President Obama emphasised the importance now of Russia playing a constructive role by ceasing its air campaign against moderate opposition forces in Syria,” the White House said in a statement.

Also on Sunday armed forces from around 20 countries were gathering in northern Saudi Arabia for “the most important” military manoeuvre ever staged in the region, the official news agency SPA reported.

The “Thunder of the North” exercise involving ground, air, and naval forces sends a “clear message” that Riyadh and its allies “stand united in confronting all challenges and preserving peace and stability in the region”, SPA said.

Saudi Arabia is currently leading a military campaign against Iran-backed rebels in its southern neighbour Yemen. Last December, it also formed a new 35-member coalition to fight “terrorism” in Islamic countries.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Saturday that Saudi jets would be deployed at Incirlik, and that the two countries could participate in ground operations against ISIS in Syria.

Riyadh and Ankara are both opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose foreign minister last week warned that any ground intervention would “amount to aggression that must be resisted”.

General Assiri said the decision to deploy an unspecified number of jets to Turkey followed a meeting in Brussels of US-led anti-ISIS coalition members, who decided step up their fight against the jihadists in Syria and Iraq.

He stressed that Saudi Arabia had made its decision in co-ordination with the coalition and said that a ground operation was being planned.

“There is a consensus among coalition forces on the need for ground operations and the kingdom is committed to that,” General Assiri said.

“Military experts will meet in the coming days to finalise the details, the task force and the role to be played by each country.” Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir also told reporters on Sunday that his country was ready to send special forces to Syria to take part in ground operations against ISIS, without giving further details.

Turkey on Saturday hit Kurdish and Syrian regime positions in northern Syria, further complicating efforts to end the war, which has killed more than 260,000 people since it began in 2011.