Syria denies sending troops to fight Houthis in return for Saudi loans

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani refuted reports on Monday that Syrian forces had been deployed to Yemen to help Saudi Arabia fight Iran-backed Houthis.Speaking at a joint news conference with his Jordanian counterpart, Ayman Safadi, at Damascus’ Tishreen Palace, Shaibani said, “There is no deployment of forces in Yemen and there is not even a plan in the near future for that. We today have an agreement with Saudi Arabia, and any military plan outside of the borders will be announced and will be spoken of and won’t be hidden.”Shaibani continued, “Our military agreement with Saudi Arabia focuses on rebuilding Syria’s armed forces.”The rebuttal follows news reports over the past three days about the alleged deployment of Syrian troops to the kingdom and to Yemen.