Saudi Arabia Signs Defence Deal With Syria and Agrees $403 Million in Reconstruction Loans

The agreements were signed as al-Sharaa met Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Neither government disclosed the terms of the defence accord, which the Syrian Foreign Ministry called the "most notable" of the deals signed. It was announced by the Saudi state news agency SPA.

The package deepens Riyadh's role as Syria's main Gulf backer at a time when the kingdom is fighting a renewed war with Yemen's Houthis, who have attacked Saudi airports and oil facilities. For Syria, the loans add funding for basic infrastructure that was badly damaged during the civil war, while the defence agreement links Damascus more closely to Saudi security planning.

The loans come from the Saudi Fund for Development and were signed with Syria's Finance Ministry. According to SPA figures cited by Al Jazeera, they include $100 million to rebuild and equip damaged health facilities, $105 million to strengthen civil defence, $90 million to rehabilitate the Aleppo thermal power plant, $60 million to repair damaged housing and $30 million to develop drinking water systems in Damascus and Idlib. Those five items add up to $385 million; the reports did not detail the remainder of the $403 million total. The two governments also signed a memorandum of understanding on industrial cooperation and two more covering agriculture and environmental protection.

The defence agreement follows remarks on Saturday by Syria's Foreign Minister, Asaad al-Shaibani, that his government was considering joining a mutual defence pact between Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Pakistan. "Discussions are currently under way to evaluate Syria's entry into the Mecca alliance," he said at the Manama Dialogue security conference in Bahrain.

Reuters reported last month that Syria was weighing whether to provide military assistance to Saudi Arabia in its campaign against the Houthis. At the time, a Syrian diplomat said any request for military cooperation or exchange of expertise "would take place exclusively through official channels and within the framework of the bilateral agreements" between the two countries.

In a statement on X, the Syrian Foreign Ministry said the two leaders discussed the effect of military escalation on regional security, the safety of international shipping, the reliability of energy supplies and the stability of the global economy. They called for an "immediate cessation of all actions that threaten the security of maritime navigation" in the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandeb strait and the Strait of Hormuz, the ministry said.

Saudi Arabia has provided financial support to Syria since al-Sharaa took power after Bashar al-Assad was overthrown in December 2024, and helped restore Damascus's ties with major powers. When the two leaders last met in Riyadh on October 6, they discussed plans to rebuild damaged infrastructure and essential facilities, according to the Syrian presidency. Neither side has said when work funded by the new loans, including the Aleppo power plant rehabilitation, will begin.