OMM Newsroom
Syria is providing military advisory and training support to Saudi Arabia, which has come under attack from Yemen’s Houthis, AnewZ reported. Two Syrian military sources and a U.S. official said the country had sent a limited number of personnel to the kingdom.
According to the U.S. official, Syrian advisers and training teams are heading to Saudi Arabia. They are expected to train Saudi and Yemeni units on Saudi territory to improve their combat capabilities. The official noted that Syria has fighters with combat experience gained during years of war.
Two Syrian military sources familiar with the matter said dozens of personnel had travelled from Syria to Saudi Arabia in recent weeks. Their activities involve advisory and training work, they said, but the mandate could be broader.
A senior Syrian diplomat, responding to a request for comment, said that “at this stage, any possibility of deploying military forces should be considered premature.” The diplomat stressed that Syria remained focused on domestic security, border protection and reconstruction.
A senior Saudi official told Reuters that the exchange of expertise with Syria was “primarily focused on rebuilding Syrian forces, but that does not mean our Syrian partners cannot help us with their experience in fighting armed groups.”
Saudi Arabia and Syria signed a defense agreement on Wednesday during Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa’s visit to Riyadh. It was his second meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in less than a month. Details of the agreement were not disclosed.
According to the U.S. official, Washington has urged Damascus to act cautiously. The official added that sending forces to support the war in Yemen could draw Syria into a wider regional conflict. Syria has so far stayed out of the conflict.
The Saudi government, Syria’s Defense Ministry, the U.S. State Department, Yemen’s Saudi-backed government and the Houthis did not respond to requests for comment.
Syria has become a close ally of Saudi Arabia and the United States following the rebels led by Ahmad al-Sharaa, who ousted Iran’s ally Bashar al-Assad in 2024.
The Syrian diplomat said the Saudi-Syrian agreement could pave the way for broader defense cooperation in the future, including cooperation similar to the Mecca Pact.
The diplomat said Wednesday’s agreement was “a broad framework for military cooperation,” alongside a number of agreements and memorandums of understanding in other areas, including finance and agriculture.
The Saudi Fund for Development signed six agreements with Syria’s Finance Ministry on Wednesday to provide more than $403 million in concessional development loans. The funds are intended to support development and services in Syria.
The loans are significant support for Syria, which is struggling to revive its economy and faces reconstruction costs estimated at hundreds of billions of dollars.
Syria’s Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani recently said at a conference in Bahrain that the possibility of Syria joining the Mecca Pact had been discussed.
