A Syrian military delegation to Saudi Arabia to discuss the transfer of 10,000 fighters to fight Yemen

Lebanon - Ofoq News - A high-level Syrian military delegation visited the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in recent days, and held a series of meetings with high-ranking Saudi security officials, as part of preparations to transfer up to 10,000 fighters from Syria to participate in the campaign against the Houthis in Yemen.

The Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar published this news this morning, citing intelligence sources in Yemen. According to the report, the planned force may also include thousands of foreign jihadist fighters who participated in the Syrian civil war.

This comes, according to the Lebanese newspaper, in conjunction with the arrival of a number of military cargo planes belonging to the Egyptian Air Force to Prince Sultan Military Airport located outside the Riyadh region, in implementation of Egypt’s decision to support Saudi Arabia in its war against Yemen.

Contrary to the Syrian transitional government's denial of the news that Damascus intended to send thousands of armed elements to southern Saudi Arabia, a Syrian military advisory group completed a visit it made to the Najran and Asir regions in the south of the Kingdom, in parallel with discussions held in Riyadh.

According to intelligence sources, the group that arrived in Riyadh, in the middle of last week, was led by the former commander of the Ansar al-Tawhid faction, the commander of the 82nd Division in the new Syrian army, Brigadier General Khaled Khattab, and the commander of the Third Corps in the army, Brigadier Haitham al-Ali (Abu Muslim), a former leader of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham.

According to the sources, Khattab spent four days in southern Saudi Arabia - accompanied by Saudi officers - during which he visited sites prepared to receive Syrian fighters in Asir and Najran.

For his part, Brigadier General Al-Ali held a number of meetings at the Ministry of Defense headquarters in the capital, during which he discussed the costs of transporting about 10,000 Syrian fighters, the financial arrangements, other privileges, and the military tasks that these forces will carry out. The sources indicated that the visiting Syrian advisory team put the final touches on the implementation of transportation logistics operations.

According to the newspaper, there are dozens of Syrian trainers in using drones, who are in camps in Asir, as well as in others affiliated with the “First Military Region” on the outskirts of the city of Sayun, the capital of the Hadhramaut Valley in eastern Yemen, and in the “Al-Khasha” camp in Hadhramaut, and in the “Al-Anad” military base in Al-Dhalea, where they train dozens of members of the “Homeland Shield” and “Giants’ Brigades” factions.

The sources indicated that, in recent weeks, Syrian drone operators have established drone units within the framework of the “emergency” forces affiliated with Saudi Arabia in Asir, Al-Wadiah, and Sharurah. A few days ago, informed sources in Sanaa hinted at the participation of foreigners in the battle south of the Bab al-Mandab Strait, during the past two weeks, without revealing the nationality of those forces, despite more than one military source confirming limited Pakistani participation in the battle.

This report comes amid a major escalation in the conflict between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis. The newspaper claims that, in conjunction with the Syrian delegation’s visit, several Egyptian military transport planes landed at Prince Sultan Air Base near Riyadh, as part of Cairo’s decision to support Saudi Arabia in its campaign in Yemen. This claim has not been independently verified.

Sham TV reported that Brigadier General Khattab was responsible for gathering foreign fighters of non-Syrian nationalities, with the aim of transporting them to Yemen. According to the channel, they will be paid attractive salaries, allowed to perform Hajj and Umrah rituals for free, and their families will be transferred to Yemen in the “post-stabilization” phase, which raises fears of repeating bitter experiences like those that occurred in Iraq.