Syriaupdated 1h ago2 min read
Asaad Al-Shaibani Denies Syria Deployed Forces in Yemen, Says No Near Plan
“even as an Associated Press report said Damascus was preparing to send about 600 special forces fighters to Saudi Arabia”
“‘There is no deployment of Syrian forces in Yemen, nor are there any plans to do so in the near future,’ Shaibani said.”
This article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.
Syria denies any deployment to Yemen or near-term plans. Reports claimed up to 600 Syrian fighters planned for Yemen border; Damascus denied.
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Damascus denies Yemen deployment
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shaibani denied that Syria has deployed forces in Yemen and said there is “no deployment of forces in Yemen, and there is not even a near plan for this matter.” Al-Shaibani made the remarks during a joint press conference with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi in Damascus, while officials linked to the Yemeni government told AFP that Syria had begun deploying soldiers to Saudi Arabia and Yemen to support “government forces” and the coalition confronting Ansar Allah.
“There is no deployment of forces in Yemen, and there is not even a near plan for this matter.”
Al-Shaibani insisted that “any cross-border military plan will certainly be announced… and its operations will not be carried out in secret.” Al-Shaibani also confirmed that Syria has signed a military cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia, and he said, “We need it more than any other side” as Syria works to rebuild the Syrian army and its civil and military institutions after long years of conflict.
Conflicting reports and denials
The BBC reported that al-Shaibani denied deploying any troops in Yemen or plans to send troops there, and he said, “There is no deployment of forces in Yemen, and there is not even a near-term plan for such a matter.” AFP had reported on Saturday, citing Yemeni military officials and sources linked to the Saudi-backed Yemeni government, that Syria had already begun deploying hundreds of soldiers on both sides of the Saudi-Yemeni border with plans to send thousands more.
Al-Shaibani also explained that the military cooperation agreement Damascus signed with Riyadh focuses on “rebuilding the Syrian army” and on cooperation in the field of “defense industries.” CNN Arabic described Syria’s renewed denial at the same Monday press conference, quoting al-Shaybani saying, “any Syrian military plan outside the borders will be announced clearly and will not be carried out in secret.”
What the agreement covers
Multiple accounts tied the controversy to a defense cooperation agreement signed during President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s visit to Riyadh, with Al-Shaibani saying the agreement does not provide for deployment of Syrian forces to Yemen. Anadolu Ajansı quoted al-Chaibani saying, “No deployment of Syrian forces to Yemen is being considered and no plan to that effect is planned in the near future,” and it said the military agreement reached with Saudi Arabia did not provide for such an operation.
The Anadolu Ajansı report also said al-Chaibani announced the signing of 11 cooperation documents between Jordan and Syria and described the creation of a joint security and technical committee tasked with investigating the events that took place in Deraa. Gulf News framed the dispute around a distinction between sending Syrian personnel to Saudi Arabia and deploying them directly into Yemen, and it quoted al-Shaibani saying, “Any military plan abroad would be announced... and not done in secret.”