RIYADH, Oct 8 (Reuters) – Syria may deploy troops to help Saudi Arabia fight Yemen’s Houthis, a US official and a Syrian defence official said, as the Iran-aligned group steps up its missile and drone attacks on the kingdom, killing three people at Saudi airports this week.
The possible entry of Syrian forces into the battle, an overspill of the US-Iran conflict, shows how Yemen’s reignited civil war has added new chaos to a region already aflame, and risks drawing regional states into gruelling mountain fighting.
Saudi Arabia has pushed for support from allied nations, including Turkey and Pakistan, even if only in a logistical or purely defensive capacity, an effort made more urgent by the Houthi strikes on its infrastructure such as this week’s deadly airport attack.
A succession of loud booms was heard in Riyadh on Thursday morning which Reuters could not identify. There was no immediate official comment and no public early warning alerts, although some diplomats said they had received warnings, and some schools in Riyadh warned parents of shelter in place orders.
Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi group said on Thursday it had attacked King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh with a ballistic missile. The Saudi government media office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
OFFICIALS SAY SYRIAN AID COULD BE PURELY DEFENSIVE
One person had been killed in a strike on Riyadh airport and two others in an attack on Abha airport in the southwest on Tuesday and Wednesday, Saudi Arabia said late on Wednesday.
The US and Syrian officials said Syria was carefully considering military support, including the option of defensive aid to protect Saudi Arabia from attacks or deployment in an offensive capacity to help Saudi-backed Yemeni troops take the fight to the Houthis.
Yemen’s long-running civil war, which paused with a ceasefire in 2022, has erupted again in recent weeks with the Houthis seizing stretches of the Red Sea coast last month, including along the vital Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The Houthis have said they were responding to attacks from the Saudi-backed government, which the government denies.
The group’s threats to shipping along a waterway that has become ever more critical for Gulf oil exports since Iran’s attacks in the Strait of Hormuz, and its targeting of Saudi cities and infrastructure, have drawn the kingdom back in.
In response to a request for comment to the Syrian foreign ministry, a Syrian diplomat said Syria stood firmly with Saudi Arabia in the face of Houthi attacks but that the government’s primary focus was on domestic priorities such as recovery from the country’s civil war.
“Should Saudi Arabia request any military cooperation or exchange of expertise, this would take place exclusively through official channels and within the framework of the bilateral agreements governing relations between our two brotherly countries,” the diplomat said in a statement.
SAUDI ARABIA SEEKING SUPPORT FROM ALLIES
This week, Saudi-backed forces launched a counter attack, taking back areas around the strait as they push to reverse the Houthis’ gains of last month.
However, in a messy war with several frontlines, the Houthis have also made some gains of their own this week, surrounding the country’s third-largest city of Taiz by taking territory along its main mountain road to Aden.
The fighting, which pits the Houthis against a coalition of Saudi-backed forces under the internationally recognised government, has led to a humanitarian crisis in the poorest Arab state, displacing 200,000 people since the conflict resumed.
Saudi Arabia this summer agreed the Mecca pact with Turkey and Pakistan, committing all three countries to come to each other’s defence, though Ankara still needs to ratify the treaty internally.
NATO-member Turkey said on Wednesday it was sending mainly defensive and technical support to the kingdom to help in the fight against the Houthis, and a Turkish official said this was expected to take the form of military equipment, intelligence sharing and weapons systems.
Turkey, a close ally of Syria’s government and a supporter of its forces while they were still rebels fighting the government of Bashar al-Assad, previously brought some Syrian fighters to Libya in 2020 to help in that country’s civil war.
Pakistan has flown cargo planes of military equipment to Aden in southern Yemen to help in the battle against the Houthis, sources in Pakistan have said, and has deployed its own troops inside Saudi Arabia to help defend its borders.
The Saudi government media office and Yemen’s information minister did not respond to requests for comment.
(Writing by Angus McDowall, Editing by Philippa Fletcher)
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