The Syrian government on Wednesday denied reports that it is considering a request from Saudi Arabia to send ground forces into Yemen against the Iran-backed Houthi insurgents. Damascus did, however, condemn the latest Houthi attacks against Saudi airports in strong terms.
Axios reported on Wednesday that Saudi Arabia asked Syria to join the fight against the Houthis and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa was “seriously considering” the request.
The report said the Trump administration was “consulted by both countries and is not opposed in principle to such a move.” U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) might even be willing to advise Syria on how to best employ its troops in Yemen, according to two American officials.
A U.S. official said the de facto chief executive of Saudi Arabia, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, suggested the troop deployment to Sharaa during a meeting in Riyadh this week.
Axios pointed out that Syrian intervention in Yemen could “inject a religious dimension” into the conflict because Syria’s government forces are heavy with Sunni Muslim jihadis who helped overthrow Iran-backed dictator Bashar Assad in 2024 after a long and bloody civil war. Iran is the dominant political power of Shiite Islam, and Assad belonged to a relatively small sect of Shia Islam called the Alawites.
Sharaa is a former al-Qaeda lieutenant who headed an offshoot of the notorious Sunni Muslim terrorist organization called Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). HTS was seen as one of the more effective factions in the Syrian Civil War, and could help in Yemen by training and directing the underperforming militia units allied with the Saudis and the internationally-recognized Yemeni government.
Reuters cited “a Syrian military official briefed on the matter” and an American official in a similar report on Tuesday.
“Options being considered 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,” Reuters’ sources said.
Sharaa’s media adviser, Ahmed Muwaffaq Zaidan, said on Wednesday that while his government believes the security of Syria and Saudi Arabia is “inseparable,” reports of Damascus sending troops to Yemen were “a lie and have no basis in truth.”
“Syria’s position is clear: we stand firmly with Saudi Arabia against threats to its security and stability. At the same time, Syria’s policy in the region is focused on stability, peace, and cooperation, not opening new fronts,” the Syrian Information Ministry added.
A Syrian diplomat told Reuters that any request for military assistance from Saudi Arabia would “take place exclusively through official channels and within the framework of the bilateral agreements governing relations between our two brotherly countries.”
The Syrian Foreign Ministry “strongly condemned” Houthi attacks on Saudi airports on Thursday as “a blatant violation of international law” and said Syria supports “all legitimate measures” taken by Saudi Arabia to defend its sovereignty.
Senior associate fellow H.A. Hellyer of the Royal United Services Institute in London told Reuters that Syria was unlikely to commit “boots on the ground” in Yemen, but sending “a very small number” of defensive personnel to “the most holy places in the Islamic world” would be “tremendously and positively symbolic.”
Hellyer was alluding to an intercepted Houthi drone attack against the Muslim holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia on September 15, which brought condemnation from almost every Muslim government in the region except Iran. The Houthis have denied launching the attack.