Damascus denies report Syria sending troops to Yemen and Saudi Arabia to fight Houthis
Yemeni officials claim deal signed by Sharaa in Riyadh will see up to 10,000 soldiers sent, with hundreds already deployed; Syrian sources say help is only via advising, training
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Thousands of Syrian troops are set to deploy to Saudi Arabia and Yemen, with some already on the ground, multiple Yemeni officials have told AFP, as Riyadh rallies international help to repel the Iran-backed Houthis and bolster the government in Aden.
Hundreds have already been deployed to both sides of the border, according to three separate Yemeni military sources and a defense official. But more are coming.
Syria will send around 3,000 troops to join the Saudi-led coalition’s fight, a source from the Presidential Leadership Council, Yemen’s top governing body, told AFP.
“The Syrian side and the Saudi side agreed to send around 3,000 troops to fight against the Houthis,” said the source, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
However, a Syrian diplomatic source denied the development to state media, telling SANA that reports Syria had sent troops “at this time are entirely unfounded” and that Damascus was focused on domestic matters.
The Yemeni sources said the arrangement was greenlit during Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s visit to Riyadh this week, where the two countries signed cooperation agreements, including a defense deal.
Those already stationed on the Yemeni side of the border at the moment are leading drone operations against the Houthis in the area, one of the military officials told AFP.
The kingdom — a key backer of Syria’s post-Assad government — has been pressing allies for help as it comes under daily fire from the Iran-backed jihadist group that recently seized swaths of the Red Sea coastline from the Riyadh-backed government.
The Houthis have ramped up attacks on the kingdom in recent weeks after a truce collapsed over the summer, forcing Riyadh airport shut for two weeks after fatal strikes there and threatening Saudi Arabia’s vast economic diversification plans.
Conflicting claims
While denying the report, the Syrian source outlined the scope of military cooperation with Saudi Arabia, which they said currently focuses on training Syrian forces, building their capabilities and exchanging military expertise.
Coordination visits by Saudi officials to Syria are set to begin next month, with the cooperation potentially developing into a mutual defense agreement or Syria joining the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, depending on the shared interests of both countries, the person added.
On Friday, two Syrian military sources and a senior US official told Reuters that Syria has been aiding Riyadh with military advice and training, and has sent a limited number of military personnel to the kingdom, but didn’t say they were there for combat.
The senior US official said advisers and training teams from Syria — where fighters became battle-hardened in years of war — were traveling to Saudi Arabia to help train Saudi and Yemeni units inside the kingdom to improve their combat effectiveness.
The two Syrian sources, who have direct knowledge of the matter, said scores of military personnel had gone from Syria to Saudi Arabia in recent weeks. They said advisory and training work was involved, but that their mandate could be broader.
In response to a request for comment on those claims, a senior Syrian diplomat said “any suggestion of military deployments at this stage is premature,” and that Syria’s focus remained on internal security, protecting its borders and reconstruction.
The diplomat said a Syrian-Saudi defense cooperation deal signed on Wednesday “specifically includes advisory support, training and exchange of expertise.”
A senior Saudi official told Reuters that ongoing expertise sharing with Syria was “mainly to restructure the Syrian forces… but that doesn’t mean also our Syrian partners don’t help us in their combat experience regarding fighting militias.”
Joint training exercises were underway, and more were planned in both security and defense, the Saudi official added in response to a request for comment.
Boots on the ground
While Egypt vowed to send military help if needed and France deployed soldiers to protect Saudi Arabia’s Yanbu oil terminal, if the report is true, Syrians would be the first foreign boots on the ground to get involved in the Yemen conflict since it flared up over the summer.
A source at Yemen’s Defense Ministry told AFP that, to the best of their knowledge, the first phase of the plan would involve 3,000 Syrian fighters, including officers and experts, with some of them already deployed in the field.
The source added that the agreement would provide for the deployment of more than 10,000 fighters in total, with the remainder to be sent in later stages.
According to the source, technical teams from the Syrian and Saudi defense ministries are currently in Riyadh, putting the final touches on arrangements for Syrian forces to take part in operations against the Houthi militias.
The cooperation is underpinned by a legal framework in the form of an agreement signed between the two countries’ defense ministries.
Just last week, Syria’s top diplomat said publicly that Damascus was considering whether to join the NATO-style Mecca defense alliance that binds Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
The Syrian army is comprised of a patchwork of groups, mostly Islamists including foreign jihadists, that overthrew former strongman Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.
Alliances in action
In August, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey signed the defense pact in Mecca, Islam’s holiest city, that states an attack on one country is to be considered an attack on all three.
Pakistan and Turkey have not announced any attacks on the Iran-backed Houthis.
Egypt’s parliament later approved President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi’s request to allow defensive military support for Saudi Arabia “if requested.”
Last month, French President Emmanuel Macron made a surprise visit to Riyadh and said France was sending troops to help shield a key Saudi oil terminal from Houthi attacks.
Also in October, the UK government announced it would deploy British fighter planes to help Saudi Arabia against the attacks.
Since the summer, fighting has flared in Yemen, when a 2022 truce fell apart.
The Houthis declared a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia and began hitting its ships, territory and oil facilities, before seizing Yemen’s entire Red Sea coast.
The group has, in turn, reported frequent Saudi airstrikes.
The United Nations says more than 1,600 people have been killed and more than 300,000 displaced since fighting resumed in impoverished Yemen.
The country has been reeling from war since 2014, when the Houthis seized the capital, with the Saudi-led coalition entering the conflict a year later in support of the government.