Syria is aiding Riyadh with military advice and training as Saudi Arabia comes under attack by Yemen's Houthis, and has sent a limited number of military personnel to the kingdom, two Syrian military sources and a senior U.S. official said.
The senior U.S. official said advisers and training teams from Syria - where fighters became battle-hardened in years of war - were travelling 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, 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.
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”.
Saudi Arabia and Syria signed the defence pact on Wednesday during a visit to Riyadh by Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, his second meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in less than a month.
No details were announced.
Washington has urged Damascus to move cautiously, the senior U.S. official said, adding that any Syrian deployment to help in the Yemen war risked embroiling the country in the wider war in the region - something it has avoided.
The Saudi government did not respond to a request for comment, nor did the Syrian Defence Ministry, the U.S. State Department, Yemen's Saudi-backed government or the Houthis.
Syria has emerged as a close ally of Saudi Arabia and the United States since rebels led by al-Sharaa toppled Bashar al-Assad, an ally of Iran, in 2024.
The senior Syrian diplomat said the Saudi-Syrian “agreement may evolve to include broader defence cooperation in the future, such as” the Mecca pact.
The deal signed on Wednesday was a “broad framework for military cooperation”, among a number of other deals and memorandums of understanding related to other sectors including finance and agriculture, the senior Syrian diplomat said.
The Saudi Fund for Development signed six agreements with Syria's Finance Ministry on Wednesday for the provision of concessional development loans worth over $403 million to support development and service sectors in Syria.
They provide a critical lifeline for a country that has struggled to revive its economy and faces a reconstruction bill in the hundreds of billions of dollars.
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani, speaking at a recent conference in Bahrain, said discussions were under way to study Syria's entry into the Mecca pact.
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