Syria’s Sharaa in Riyadh as Saudi airports come under Houthi attacks: What to know

Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday as the kingdom's airports came under increased attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

What happened: Sharaa was received by the governor of the Riyadh region, Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz, Syria's state-run news agency (SANA) said.

He later met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to discuss bilateral relations and ways to boost cooperation between the two countries. No further details were made public.

Sharaa last met with the crown prince in Jeddah on April 21, and the two spoke over the phone in late July about efforts to reduce regional tensions.

Tuesday’s visit marks Sharaa’s fifth to Saudi Arabia since taking power early last year after a rebel offensive ousted former President Bashar al-Assad in December 2024. Since then, he has been seeking to shore up Arab and Gulf support to revive an economy battered by 14 years of civil war and support reconstruction efforts, with Riyadh showing particular interest in investing in the energy and construction fields in Syria.

Why it matters: Sharaa’s latest trip comes as Saudi Arabia and the Iran-backed Houthis escalate hostilities. On Tuesday, hours before the president landed in Riyadh, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a statement that his forces had launched a ballistic missile at the Abha airport in Saudi Arabia’s southwestern province of Asir, disrupting air traffic.

He warned international airlines against operating flights in Saudi airspace, saying “it has become a theater for our military operations, with the exception of the airspace over the sacred areas in Mecca al-Mukarramah and Medina al-Munawwarah.”

Saudi Arabia accused the Houthis of targeting the two cities — Islam’s holiest — last month, which the group denied.

In a separate statement on Tuesday, Saree also said the Houthis had fired missiles at Saudi troops at the Al-Dughayrir military camp in Jizan province, southwestern Saudi Arabia, near the Yemen border, resulting in dozens of dead and wounded.

Saudi Arabia has not commented on the Houthi claims.

The Houthis had announced late on Monday that it had launched several missiles and drones at the King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Jazan and Najran International Airport in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation said Tuesday the attacks damaged the airports and left at least three people injured.

Background: The escalation in the kingdom comes after the Saudi-backed government forces in Yemen launched a major offensive on Sunday dubbed Dawn of Yemen to retake Houthi-held territories — including the capital, Sanaa — that had been under control of the Iran-backed group since 2014.

The Yemeni military said Monday that its forces and affiliates secured control of the strategic Bab el Mandeb Strait after recapturing Mokha and several key positions in the Dhubab district, including its airport.

The Houthis, however, denied reports of a government advance and accused the Saudi-led coalition of striking targets in Sanaa, Taiz and various other areas. The rebel group said on Tuesday that at least six people, including four children, were killed in a Saudi airstrike in Hajjah province.

On Monday, the Saudi-led coalition said it had deployed more than 100 fighter jets to provide aerial support for Yemeni government forces in their offensive against the Houthis. On the same day, Saudi fighter jets struck a ballistic missile launcher in Sanaa and a weapons depot housing more than 20 missiles at a mountainous site in Saada.

Saudi Arabia and the Houthis have been exchanging fire since the rebels launched their own offensive against Yemeni government forces last month, rapidly advancing along Yemen’s western Red Sea coast overlooking the Bab el Mandeb Strait.

The fighting in Yemen has resulted in more than 5,100 casualties since August 6, including 959 deaths, according to the World Health Organization. Meanwhile, the International Organization for Migration said Monday that over 184,000 people have been displaced during the same period.

On Sept. 10, the Houthis announced that they had taken control of Mokha, which had been under Yemeni government control since 2017.

The strategic city lies some 60 to 80 kilometers (37 to 50 miles) north of the Bab el Mandeb Strait, one of the world’s most critical maritime choke points that connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden in the Indian Ocean.

As Houthis appeared to tighten their control around Bab el Mandeb, concerns are growing about the security of global maritime traffic through the key waterway. Saudi Arabia has relied heavily on the strait to keep its exports afloat amid Iran’s de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz since the start of its own war with the US and Israel in late February.

The Saudi-led coalition spokesman, Turki al-Maliki, said in a statement Monday that the operation in Yemen is part of the coalition’s aim to protect the security of maritime navigation in the Bab el Mandeb Strait.

Know more: The escalation has raised concerns about a widening regional conflict after Turkey — Sharaa’s main backer — and Pakistan agreed Monday to prepare forces and other military support for rapid deployment to Saudi Arabia under their trilateral defense pact signed in August.

Meanwhile, unconfirmed reports said that Saudi Arabia had requested Syria to deploy Syrian fighters to Yemen to counter the Houthis.

The Lebanese al-Akhbar news outlet, which is close to the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, reported on Sept. 15 that Sanaa-based sources said Saudi Arabia has been transferring hundreds of fighters from Syria to Yemen via its territory, where they allegedly received training over the past few months.

Neither side commented. However, the pro-government Turkish outlet, Turkiye Today, cited sources familiar with the matter on Sept. 19 as saying that Damascus has rejected a Saudi request to deploy Syrian fighters in Yemen but will not prevent individuals from participating in the conflict.

Another Turkish source cited by Turkiye Today denied claims that Turkey was facilitating the transport of Syrian fighters to Yemen via Saudi Arabia.