Syria rejects Yemen role after 600-troop Saudi border report

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al Shaibani denied at a joint press conference on Monday that Damascus plans to deploy troops to Yemen, after reports described a possible 600-person force for Saudi Arabia.

The dispute tests Syria’s deepening ties with Riyadh after a $404 million, 20-year Saudi reconstruction loan and a defense pact, with the reported 600-person contingent compared with 36 Syrian officers who visited a Jeddah operations center.

“There is no deployment of troops to Yemen nor is there a plan for such deployment in the near future,” Al Shaibani said during the joint press conference with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi in Damascus.

The Associated Press reported that three officials familiar with the discussions said Syria was preparing to send fighters to Saudi Arabia for deployment along the kingdom’s southern border, with possible support for operations against the Houthis. An unnamed Syrian official cited by AP said an initial group of about 600 special forces personnel could reach Saudi Arabia within a week.

AP reported that Riyadh had insisted any fighters be Syrian nationals rather than foreign militants who joined armed factions during Syria’s civil war. Two Syrian officials and a regional official told AP that Syrian military advisers had already gone to Saudi Arabia, while no Syrian fighters had been sent into Yemen.

One official cited by AP said a Syrian military delegation led by Khaled Khattab, commander of the 82nd Division, recently completed a two-week visit to Saudi Arabia. Another said 36 Syrian military officials visited a joint command and operations center in Jeddah, where Saudi and Yemeni officers briefed them on front lines in the conflict.

Al Shaibani said Syria and Saudi Arabia signed a defense cooperation agreement this month, but described it as a tool for rebuilding Syrian military capabilities. He said Damascus had no agreement with Yemen’s internationally recognized government for a Syrian troop deployment.

“Any military plan abroad would be announced... and not done in secret,” Al Shaibani said.

The distinction between Syrian personnel operating in Saudi Arabia and a deployment into Yemen is central to the competing accounts. Multiple Yemeni officials told AFP that Syrian soldiers were already in Yemen, with potentially thousands more expected to be deployed, according to Gulf News.

The reports emerged as Saudi authorities briefly warned residents in Riyadh on Monday of a hostile aerial threat. The alert came a day after Saudi authorities said an Aramco building suffered minor damage from falling shrapnel following an attempted attack, while the Houthis claimed attacks on Riyadh’s financial district on Sunday.

The Houthis said Saudi strikes on the Alshariyah area of Bani Hushaysh, east of Sanaa, killed 44 people, including 21 children and 10 women. The report did not include an immediate Saudi response to that casualty figure.

AP also reported that Syria was discussing joining the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement, signed in August by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan. The pact treats an attack on one member as an attack on all and expands military cooperation among its participants.

Source: News report, Gulf News, Nov. 9, 2026.