Syria is preparing to send about 600 special forces fighters to Saudi Arabia to deploy along the kingdom's border with Yemen, where they could help Riyadh fight the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, three officials with knowledge of the plans have told the Associated Press. Syrian military advisers have already arrived in Saudi Arabia, the officials said, but no Syrian fighters have been sent into Yemen. Saudi officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

A Syrian official told the news agency that the first contingent of about 600 special forces fighters was expected to reach Saudi Arabia in the coming week. Riyadh had insisted that the force consist only of Syrian nationals, the official said, rather than the foreign fighters who joined rebel factions during Syria's long civil war. A Syrian delegation led by Khaled Khattab, commander of the army's 82nd Division, recently spent two weeks in Saudi Arabia, while 36 Syrian military officials visited a command and operations room in Jeddah staffed by Saudi and Yemeni officers and were briefed on the front lines. A regional official said Syria had already deployed a small number of advisers to Saudi Arabia, where they are helping to train Yemeni government forces inside the kingdom.

Conflicting reports on the scale of the deployment

Accounts of the scale of any deployment differ sharply. Yemeni officials cited by Agence France-Presse said Syria and Saudi Arabia had agreed to send about 3,000 Syrian troops, a figure that could eventually rise to more than 10,000, and that hundreds of Syrian personnel had already arrived on both sides of the Saudi-Yemeni border. One Yemeni military official told AFP that some Syrian personnel on the Yemeni side were assisting with drone operations against Houthi positions. Reuters, meanwhile, reported on 6 November that only a limited number of Syrian personnel had travelled to Saudi Arabia in recent weeks to work as advisers and trainers, citing two Syrian military sources and a senior US official. Neither the Saudi nor the Syrian government has publicly confirmed the deployment of combat troops, and Syria's state news agency SANA quoted a diplomatic official on Saturday dismissing reports that Syrian forces were headed to Yemen, saying the agreement with Riyadh focused on training and building military capabilities.

Why Syria is stepping in

The reported deployment would mark a sharp change of course for Damascus, which has so far stayed out of the fighting despite holding a large pool of battle-hardened fighters from its civil war. Saudi Arabia, which funded Syrian rebels during that war, has promised much-needed money for Syria's postwar reconstruction, and the two countries announced last week that they had signed a military cooperation agreement during a visit to Riyadh by Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa. Riyadh also agreed to lend Syria more than $400 million for rebuilding homes and basic infrastructure. Syrian officials have said publicly that Damascus is discussing joining the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, signed in August by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan, under which an attack on one member is treated as an attack on all. Two Syrian officials told AP that a decision to join had already been taken but not publicly announced, although a regional official said talks were still under way. One concern is whether Syria might seek the other members' support against Israel, whose forces seized a United Nations-patrolled buffer zone in southern Syria after the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024 and have occupied it since.

A widening regional war

Fighting in Yemen escalated this summer between the Houthis and the Saudi-backed government, and the rebels have since launched direct and deadly attacks on Saudi Arabia, including strikes on airports and oil facilities. It is the latest front in a regional conflict that began in February, when the United States and Israel attacked Iran. Saudi Arabia has advanced US-supplied fighter jets and missile defences but has been unable to defeat the Houthis in previous rounds of fighting, and its other allies have been reluctant to commit ground forces. Egypt's parliament authorised President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on 26 October to provide military assistance to Saudi Arabia if required, although Cairo has stressed that any help would be defensive. Turkey's parliament ratified the Mecca pact on 6 November, but Ankara has ruled out sending troops to Yemen. Mr al-Sharaa has previously turned down US proposals for Syrian forces to intervene against Hezbollah in Lebanon, saying his priority is rebuilding Syria.

For now, the reports remain unconfirmed by either capital, and whether Syrian fighters would cross into Yemen itself remains unclear.