Dubai (United Arab Emirates) (AFP) – Syria will deploy thousands of soldiers in Saudi Arabia and Yemen, where some are already there, to support the Yemeni government and its Saudi ally against the pro-Iranian Houthis, several Yemeni officials told AFP on Saturday.

Published on: 07/11/2026 - 18:18

These statements come three days after a visit to Riyadh by Syrian President Ahmed al-Chareh, during which a framework cooperation agreement was signed.

It mainly concerns "the training of military forces and the strengthening of their capacities", underlines a Syrian diplomatic source cited by the Sana news agency, denying the sending of troops to Yemen.

This information is "at this stage, completely unfounded", she said, without commenting on the deployment of soldiers in the Saudi kingdom.

This would be the first massive foreign deployment on this front since the resumption of hostilities in July in Yemen, while Saudi Arabia is trying to mobilize its allies in the face of almost daily attacks by the Houthis targeting its oil infrastructure and airports since October.

“The Syrian and Saudi sides have agreed to send around 3,000 troops to fight the Houthis,” said a source within the Presidential Council, Yemen’s highest governing body, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.

A Defense Ministry official confirmed this figure, specifying that a total of 10,000 personnel were planned in the long term.

According to the same source, technical teams from the Syrian and Saudi defense ministries are in Riyadh to finalize the plan.

Asked by AFP, the Syrian Ministry of Defense did not immediately respond. Saudi Arabia, the main supporter of the Syrian Islamist government, also did not react to this announcement.

Battle-hardened Syrian soldiers

Hundreds of Syrian troops are already present on both sides of Yemen's border with the kingdom, the Yemeni government source added, as well as separate military sources.

Syria was ravaged from 2011 by a devastating civil war which ended with the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad at the end of 2024 by a coalition of Islamist groups, led by Mr. Chareh who is now seeking investment from the Gulf petromonarchies to rebuild his country.

The Syrian army has since been formed by a motley collection of armed groups, mainly Islamist, including former seasoned foreign jihadists.

The Islamists of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) produced their own drones for their operations against government forces. Syrian fighters from Islamist groups had also taken part in other conflicts abroad, notably in Libya, Nagorno-Karabakh and Niger.

According to Damascus, this military agreement with Riyadh could pave the way for Syria to join the so-called Mecca defense pact, formed in August by Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey.

Faced with Houthi attacks, the kingdom launched an appeal for help to the United States, which remained unsuccessful. Egypt recently committed to providing defensive military aid to Riyadh, but without specifying the terms.

France, for its part, deployed troops to protect the Saudi oil terminal at Yanbu, and London announced in October the deployment of combat planes to protect Saudi territory.

The war in Yemen erupted in 2014 with the capture of the capital Sanaa by the Houthis, triggering an intervention in 2015 by the military coalition led by Riyadh. A truce was agreed in 2022 but fighting resumed this summer, opening a new front in the war in the Middle East.

© 2026 AFP

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