Syria is weighing sending thousands of troops into Saudi Arabia's war
1 hour ago · 8 October 2026Share
Syrian Free Army soldiers practice personnel search procedures during a visit by Coalition Forces to a combat outpost in Syria's Deconfliction Zone on Feb. 7, 2025. File photo. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Fred Brown · Public domain
Saudi Arabia and Syria are talking about sending Syrian troops into the war in Yemen.
Three people inside the US government told Axios about it.
Syria's president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, is seriously thinking about saying yes. But he hasn't decided.
So here's how we got here.
Two days ago, Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince, met Ahmed al-Sharaa in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia's defence minister and foreign minister were there. So was Syria's foreign minister.
And that's where this came up.
A person with knowledge of the talks told Axios that Syria could send between 10,000 and 20,000 troops. Two army divisions are being looked at. The 90th Division, based near Damascus. And the 84th Division, stationed in southern Syria close to Sweida.
Now here's the part that matters.
The 84th Division includes thousands of Sunni Islamist fighters. They fought against the Assad regime during Syria's civil war, under the rebel group HTS.
And the Houthis, the people they'd be fighting in Yemen, follow Zaydi Shia Islam.
So this isn't just more troops joining a war. It's Sunni fighters against a Shia movement. That could turn a political and territorial war into a religious one.
This request isn't happening in a vacuum either.
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Contains modified MODIS satellite data showing the Arabian Peninsula, the region where Syrian troops might be deployed to fight Houthis in Yemen. File photo. Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC · Public domain
Three days ago, Yemen's government launched a huge ground offensive called Operation Dawn of Yemen. Backed by Saudi Arabia. The goal is to take back territory from the Houthis, including the capital Sanaa and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. The Saudi-led coalition says 100 fighter jets flew in the operation's first hours, and that 324 high-value targets have been destroyed. The Houthis dispute some of that, including around Dhubab district and the strait itself.
Why does Saudi Arabia want Syrian troops at all? Because Yemen's government forces are less experienced than the Houthis, who've been fighting for years. Saudi Arabia has also asked America twice for direct air strikes. Twice, Washington said no. It's sending intelligence and targeting data instead.
So what does America think about Syrian troops going in?
According to Axios, the Trump administration has been briefed and isn't opposed, in principle. Two people inside the US government say Central Command has been consulted on how troops could be sent. The thinking is this would bring two US allies, Saudi Arabia and Syria, closer together, without pulling America deeper into the war itself. The White House and Central Command didn't comment when Axios asked. Saudi Arabia's embassy and Syria's foreign ministry didn't respond either.
But here's the thing. It's not as settled as that makes it sound.
Reuters spoke separately to a Syrian diplomat, who gave a much more cautious picture. He said Damascus stands with Saudi Arabia against Houthi attacks. But he said Syria's priority right now is its own recovery, after 14 years of civil war. And that any Saudi request would have to go through official channels. Reuters describes a range of options on the table, from defensive help protecting Saudi territory, to Syrian troops actually joining the fighting in Yemen. Not a done deal to send troops.
Syria's own state media, SANA, only said the Riyadh meeting covered bilateral relations and regional developments. It didn't mention Yemen at all.
And this isn't the first ask. Three weeks ago, Syrian sources said Damascus had already turned down an earlier, separate request for fighters, saying its military needed to rebuild itself first.
Then, within the last hour, new headlines appeared. A Syrian presidential adviser is reported to have denied that Damascus was ever asked to send troops to Yemen at all. A separate report describes the US denying Saudi Arabia's request for military support. And a third reports Syria ruling out any involvement in the Yemen war. The full detail of those reports could not be confirmed at the time of writing.
So here is what's actually agreed. Saudi Arabia and Syria have discussed Syrian military support for the Yemen operation, at the highest level, in the last few days.
What's not agreed? How far that support would go. Whether troops get sent at all. And whether Damascus or Washington are now backing away from this in public.
Ahmed al-Sharaa hasn't announced a decision. Until he does, the number everyone's repeating, 10,000 to 20,000 troops, is a figure under discussion. Not a deployment.
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