Reports have continued to circulate about a possible deployment of Syrian fighters to Yemen despite Damascus' denials.
But analysts who spoke to The New Arab said such a move was unlikely given Syria’s own domestic security challenges, and suggested that any military support to Saudi Arabia against the Houthis could take other forms, without involving troops on Yemeni territory.
Citing unnamed Yemeni intelligence sources, Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar reported that Riyadh and Damascus had held talks on transferring up to 10,000 Syrian fighters to Yemen.
It said a Syrian military delegation had recently visited the Saudi capital and the kingdom’s southern regions to assess the proposed deployment.
According to the newspaper, Brigadier General Khaled Khattab, formerly leader of the Ansar al-Tawhid faction and now commander of the 82nd Division in the new Syrian army, spent four days in the southern Saudi regions of Asir and Najran, accompanied by Saudi officers. The delegation reportedly visited sites being prepared to receive Syrian fighters.
Meanwhile, Brigadier General Haitham al-Ali, also known as Abu Muslim, commander of the army’s Third Corps and a former Hayat Tahrir al-Sham commander, was said to have met Saudi officers at the defence ministry in Riyadh to discuss the costs of transferring around 10,000 fighters, financial arrangements, benefits and their expected military role. Al-Akhbar said the delegation had finalised logistical preparations for the transfer.
The New Arab could not independently verify Al-Akhbar’s claims.
Could Syria support Riyadh without entering Yemen?
Muaz al-Abdallah, a Syria analyst at the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), told The New Arab that any Syrian military support to Saudi Arabia would not necessarily involve deploying troops inside Yemen.
He said one possibility was that Syrian forces could be sent to help protect Saudi Arabia’s southern border, rather than take part directly in the fighting against the Houthis on Yemeni territory. Al-Abdallah said this statement left open the possibility of military cooperation with Riyadh, even if Damascus maintained that it had not deployed forces inside Yemen.
"Damascus has said it has not sent forces to Yemen, while also expressing support for Saudi security and saying military cooperation would take place through official channels and bilateral agreements," Al-Abdallah said.
He added that deploying Syrian personnel to the Saudi side of the border would not necessarily contradict the government’s denial that it had sent forces to Yemen, but could instead represent another way of supporting Riyadh.
Al-Abdallah suggested that Saudi Arabia could increase its financial assistance and investments in Syria’s reconstruction in return for military support.
Syrian drone expertise could help Saudi Arabia
Al-Abdallah also pointed to the potential for Syria to offer expertise in drone operations, particularly given its forces' experience operating drones during the war against Bashar Al-Assad’s regime. He said drones had played an important role in the lightning rebel offensive that toppled Assad, giving Syrian forces considerable experience in their use.
That expertise could prove useful to Saudi Arabia amid its confrontation with the Houthis, particularly if cooperation were to involve training or the use of smaller attack drones.
Al-Akhbar also reported that Syrian drone specialists were already involved in training forces in Saudi Arabia and Yemen, and that Syrian operators had helped establish drone units within Saudi emergency forces. However, these claims have not been independently verified.
Despite the reports, Al-Abdallah said ACLED had not documented evidence of Syrian fighters currently operating in Yemen. The organisation had found no reports of Syrian casualties, captured fighters or funerals linked to a deployment there, he said, noting that such evidence had helped establish the presence of Syrian fighters in other conflict zones, including Libya.
Al-Abdallah also questioned reports, including those published by Axios, that Syria could send its 84th Division to Yemen. He said the division was deployed around Suweida, in southern Syria, which remains largely outside the central government’s control after last year's sectarian clashes.
"Given the situation there, and reports of heavy Israeli arming of the National Guard and a possible escalation with the Syrian government, I don’t see how this division would leave Suweida," he said.
Syria's unresolved issues make deployment unlikely
The prospect of Syria deploying fighters to Yemen remains unlikely given the transitional government’s security challenges at home, according to Benjamin Schmida, a Middle East researcher at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
Schmida told The New Arab that Saudi Arabia likely requested that Syria send forces to Yemen, but Damascus appears to have declined.
"It does not seem like these discussions proceeded very far beyond consulting CENTCOM," he said, adding that the Syrian government’s public rejection of the request suggested the talks had not continued.
Schmida said it remained unclear what forces Syria could realistically deploy, given the security challenges facing the country, including Kurdish areas in the northeast, Druze militia control over Suweida, sporadic Islamic State group attacks, and repeated Israeli incursions in the southwest.
He also cautioned against assuming that foreign fighters integrated into Syria’s military would be available for deployment abroad.
"Foreign fighters, such as Uyghur Turkistan Islamic Party fighters that are integrated into the Syrian Defence Ministry, represent some of Syria’s most elite units," he said.
"The Syrian government likely views integrated foreign fighters, including the Uyghurs, as vital assets for Syria's defence and internal security that must remain in Syria in the event of a future crisis."
Would Syrian fighters change the balance in Yemen?
The possibility of transferring foreign fighters to Yemen was also raised in Al-Akhbar's report, which suggested that Uyghurs, Uzbeks, Tajiks, Afghans, and Chechens who joined Syrian opposition factions before Assad’s fall could be among those considered for deployment.
However, Schmida said the potential impact of any Syrian deployment would depend on the number of fighters sent and where they were integrated into the conflict.
Axios recently reported that Syria could send between 10,000 and 20,000 fighters. Schmida said this would represent a sizeable proportion of Syria’s total army manpower and could meaningfully bolster forces loyal to Yemen’s internationally recognised government, whose forces he estimated at around 100,000.
But he noted that the Houthis are a much larger force, while government-aligned fighters remain spread across several frontlines, including Taiz, Marib, and Jawf.
More importantly, he said, sending additional fighters would not necessarily address the divisions undermining the Yemeni government’s war effort.
"Merely sending more fighters - though they may be experienced - is unlikely to solve one of the primary challenges for the Yemeni government in its war against the Houthis: its own internal disunity," Schmida said.
He pointed to the political fragmentation and poor military coordination among government-aligned forces, warning that they could struggle to integrate Syrian fighters effectively, limiting their ability to change conditions on the battlefield.
Ultimately, Schmida said a meaningful Syrian deployment was unlikely "at this time or in the foreseeable future," as the government’s focus on domestic stability took precedence over Saudi requests.
While Riyadh could potentially use aid and investment to encourage Damascus to provide military support, he warned that doing so "could risk souring the Syrian-Saudi relationship and pushing Syria closer to Turkey or Saudi rivals like the UAE".
Louay Faour is a journalist at The New Arab focusing largely on the Levant, with a particular interest in Lebanese affairs
Follow him on X: @LouayFaour