Saudi Arabia and Syria have signed a defence cooperation agreement. Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman oversaw the signing of several deals in Riyadh on Wednesday, including the defence pact and more than $403m in Saudi loans for Syria's energy, housing, health and infrastructure sectors. It was al-Sharaa's second visit to Riyadh in less than a month.
Syria's Foreign Ministry called the agreement between the two defence ministries the "most notable" of the deals but did not disclose its terms. It came days after Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani told the Manama Dialogue in Bahrain that his government was weighing whether to join the mutual defence pact among Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Pakistan, referred to as the Mecca alliance.
According to Saudi state media, the Saudi Fund for Development signed six concessional loan agreements with Syria's Finance Ministry: $100m to rebuild health facilities, $60m to repair damaged housing, $105m for civil defence, $90m to rehabilitate the Aleppo thermal power plant and $30m for drinking water systems in Damascus and Idlib. Memorandums of understanding on industry, agriculture and the environment were also signed.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry said the two leaders discussed regional escalation, the safety of shipping and energy supplies, and called for an immediate halt to all actions threatening navigation in the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandeb and the Strait of Hormuz. Saudi Arabia has been a key backer of Syria's government since Bashar al-Assad was toppled in December 2024; the two leaders last met in Riyadh on October 6.