Syria is weighing military assistance to key ally Saudi Arabia as the kingdom’s war against Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen escalates, U.S. and Syrian officials said.
Options include defensive aid to protect the kingdom from attacks, or deployment of forces in an offensive capacity to help Saudi-backed Yemeni troops fight the Houthis, the sources said.
The U.S. official said Saudi Arabia requested that Syria deploy forces to fight the Houthis – an assertion denied by Ahmad Zaidan, media adviser to the Syrian president, in a post on X after the report was published.
In response to a request for comment to the Syrian Foreign Ministry, a Syrian diplomat said Syria stood firmly with Saudi Arabia in the face of Houthi attacks but the government's primary focus was on domestic priorities such as recovery from its civil war.
"Should Saudi Arabia request any military cooperation or exchange of expertise, this would take place exclusively through official channels and within the framework of the bilateral agreements governing relations between our two brotherly countries," the diplomat said in a statement.
The Saudi government media office and Yemen's information minister did not respond to requests for comment.
Saudi Arabia has been requesting assistance from the U.S., Europe and the Middle East for both defensive and offensive support in a renewed war against the group after weeks of Houthi missile and drone attacks on the kingdom.
A patchwork of Yemeni government forces, supported by Saudi air power, is leading the war on the ground. They made limited advances since the campaign launched Monday.
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa made a public visit to Riyadh Tuesday and met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. He discussed potential Syrian military assistance for the kingdom, among other matters, the U.S. official said.
Footage broadcast by Syrian state media showed he was escorted back to his plane by Saudi Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman, a brother of the crown prince who oversees Yemen policy.
Risky deployment
For Damascus, any potential deployment carries risks.
Syrian opposition groups that toppled the Bashar Assad regime are now part of the nascent Syrian state, which has adopted a policy of avoiding engagement in conflicts involving Iran to focus on recovery from the 14-year civil war.
A conflict between that army and the Houthis, who are also adherents of an offshoot of Shiite Islam, could have divisive religious undertones that the Syrian leadership and its Western partners want to avoid, the U.S. official said.
For this reason, it previously rejected a U.S. request to help fight Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Involvement in a battle against the Iran-backed Houthis could also be viewed as a hostile act by Iran and its allies Hezbollah in Lebanon and militias in Iraq, with which Syria's new leadership has a history of conflict.
Keen to show support
At the same time, al-Sharaa is keen to show the country's support for Saudi Arabia and Mohammed bin Salman, who has played a key role in Syria's reintegration into international community, including by setting up a May 2025 meeting between al-Sharaa and U.S. President Donald Trump.
Saudi Arabia has also provided financial assistance to Syria and a Syrian show of support could result in increased assistance, the U.S. official said.
"A new Syria sending defensive personnel of a very small number to the most holy places in the Islamic world, alongside technical support to neutralize incoming drones, would be tremendously and positively symbolic," said H.A. Hellyer, senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London.
"But anything beyond, particularly in terms of Syrian boots on the ground, would be a wholly different proposition, and one Damascus would avoid, given the priorities in Syria," he said.