Syria is considering joining a regional defense alliance with Saudi Arabia, its foreign minister said on Saturday, raising the prospect of Damascus’s becoming involved in the kingdom’s widening conflict with the Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen.
Asaad al-Shaibani, the Syrian foreign minister, told the Manama Dialogue security conference in Bahrain that “discussions are currently underway to evaluate Syria’s entry into the Mecca alliance,” referring to a mutual-defense pact signed in August by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan.
Under the terms of the pact, known as the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, an armed attack on any of its three members would be considered an attack on all, mirroring NATO’s collective-defense principle. The countries agreed this month to prepare for the rapid deployment of military forces to Saudi Arabia as the Houthis have intensified their attacks on the kingdom.
Mr. al-Shaibani said that Syria regarded the defense of Gulf Arab countries as essential to its own security. “Syria will stand beside all of the Gulf countries,” he said, adding that they faced challenges from “militias that cross borders.”
It was unclear, however, whether that potential support would extend to sending Syrian troops to Yemen.
Since sweeping to power almost two years ago, President Ahmed al-Sharaa of Syria has sought to stay out of regional conflicts, as his government has struggled to rebuild the country after nearly 14 years of civil war. The Syrian authorities denied reports this month that Saudi Arabia had requested that Syrian troops be deployed, saying Damascus was focused on reconstruction.
But Syria’s growing ties with Saudi Arabia could complicate that position, analysts say. Saudi Arabia has become a major diplomatic and economic supporter of Syria since the country’s longtime dictator, Bashar al-Assad, was overthrown by rebels led by Mr. al-Sharaa. The Assad family, which ruled Syria with an iron fist for more than five decades, had been closely allied with Iran, Saudi Arabia’s regional rival.
This month, Mr. al-Sharaa met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader, in Riyadh, where they discussed investment and regional security, according to a statement from the Syrian president’s office.
Syria has raised the possibility of joining the defense pact as fighting in Yemen and attacks on Saudi Arabia have intensified after years of relative calm.
After the Houthis seized the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, in 2014, Saudi Arabia began a disastrous bombing campaign the following year in support of the country’s internationally recognized government. The fighting largely subsided after a United Nations-brokered truce in 2022, but it has escalated this year amid the broader U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.
The renewed fighting has killed at least 1,677 people and wounded more than 7,300 in Yemen since August, according to the World Health Organization. Nearly 300,000 Yemenis have been displaced, the United Nations has said, deepening a devastating humanitarian crisis in one of the world’s poorest countries.
In Saudi Arabia, Houthi missile and drone attacks on airports and vital infrastructure have killed at least 19 people and wounded hundreds more, according to the Saudi-led military coalition. The escalating attacks, which have severely disrupted air travel, have increasingly threatened the kingdom’s ambitions to become a global tourism and business hub.
As the attacks have intensified, Egypt — which is not part of the Mecca pact — this week authorized military aid to Saudi Arabia, another sign of the growing regional response to the conflict.
On Saturday, the Saudi-backed coalition said it intercepted three drones over the kingdom, including one near the capital, Riyadh. In Yemen, six people, including three children, were wounded in what the Houthi authorities said was a Saudi airstrike on a grocery store in Taiz Province.
Taiz, one of Yemen’s largest cities, has become a major battleground in recent weeks. The Houthis have cut road access to the strategically located city, leaving its residents with dwindling supplies of food, water and fuel.
Taiz is at a crossroads between Houthi-held territory in the north of the country and the government-controlled south and the Red Sea coast. Taking control would help the Houthis increase pressure on government forces and cement control of coastal areas on the Red Sea.
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