Shaibani Denies Syrian Forces in Yemen, Says Any Plan Would Be Public

Speaking beside Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi in Damascus on Monday, Asaad al-Shaibani said Syria has neither troops in Yemen nor an imminent plan to put them there.

“There is no deployment of forces in Yemen and not even a near plan for this,” Shaibani said. “Any military plan beyond the borders will certainly be announced and talked about, and its work will not be in secret.”

The remarks came at a joint news conference during the third session of the Jordanian-Syrian Higher Coordination Council. They are the clearest named rejection yet of reports that Damascus was preparing to put forces into the Yemen theater.

Denial of Troop Reports

Those reports, citing Yemeni and other officials who described plans for thousands of Syrian troops in Saudi Arabia and Yemen, circulated last week after Syria and Saudi Arabia signed a defense-ministry cooperation deal in Riyadh.

An unnamed Syrian diplomatic source had already told state media that talk of sending forces to Yemen was “baseless,” casting the Saudi track as training, advisory support and expertise exchange. Shaibani’s on-camera statement goes further: no deployment, no near plan, and a pledge that any out-of-country military plan would be public.

Regional Security Context

The denial lands as Damascus deepens security ties with Riyadh and, according to officials who spoke to Associated Press, moves toward joining the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement with Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan.

Shaibani did not detail the Saudi training track or address how many Syrian personnel, if any, remain in the kingdom on advisory missions. He framed cross-border military activity as something Syria would announce rather than run in secret.

Safadi, speaking at the same podium, separately called for an Israeli withdrawal from Syrian territory seized since Dec. 8, 2024, and said Syrian blood was “as precious to us as Jordanian blood.” The two ministers’ appearance underscored a tighter Amman–Damascus diplomatic calendar even as Yemen and Mecca-pact questions dominate regional coverage of Syria’s new alignments.