Syria prepares to send 600 elite fighters to Saudi Arabia, AP sources say

Syria is preparing to send fighters to Saudi Arabia to stand along its border and potentially join the fight against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, three officials told The Associated Press. Syrian military advisers have already landed in the kingdom, according to a regional official and two Syrian officials, all speaking anonymously because they weren't cleared to talk publicly. Saudi officials stayed quiet on the reports.

The first wave could be sizable. One Syrian official said about 600 special forces fighters are expected to deploy to Saudi Arabia within the coming week. A Syrian delegation led by Khaled Khattab, commander of the 82nd Division, spent two weeks in the kingdom recently, and 36 Syrian military officials toured a command and operations room in Jeddah staffed by Saudi and Yemeni officers, getting briefed on front lines and areas of operation.

Not everyone agrees on what's actually happening. A regional official said Syria has sent only a “small number of advisers” so far, helping train Yemeni forces inside Saudi Arabia — not inside Yemen. Syria's state-run SANA news agency reported Saturday that an unnamed diplomatic official waved off claims Syrian forces were Yemen-bound, saying the deal with Riyadh is about training and building military capability.

The timing matters. Fighting in Yemen escalated this summer between the Houthis and Saudi-backed government forces, and the rebels have fired direct, deadly attacks at Saudi Arabia in what's become the newest front in a regional conflict that kicked off in February when the U.S. and Israel struck Iran. Syria, stocked with battle-tested fighters after a long civil war, has kept out of the fray until now.

Riyadh has leverage. Saudi Arabia funded Syrian rebels during that civil war, and it has since promised reconstruction money for the postwar government — a point Syrian officials have leaned on as the country digs out. Last week the two countries announced a military cooperation agreement without details, and during President Ahmad al-Sharaa's visit to Riyadh, the Saudis agreed to lend Syria more than $400 million for rebuilding homes and basic infrastructure.

Syria is also eyeing the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement signed in August by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan, which treats an attack on one as an attack on all. Two Syrian officials said the decision to join is made but unannounced; the regional official said talks are still moving. One snag, per that official: Syria might ask the pact's members for help against Israel, whose forces have occupied a U.N.-patrolled buffer zone in southern Syria since Bashar Assad's ouster in December 2024. Al-Sharaa says he wants no conflict with Israel, and Syria has already turned down proposals by President Donald Trump to send forces against Hezbollah in Lebanon. A bigger risk: Syrian boots near Yemen could draw fire from Houthi-allied militias in neighboring Iraq.