Yemen's acting ambassador in Damascus, Mohammed Azzi Baakr, said reports of Syrian troops going to Yemen were inaccurate, addressing conflicting accounts of a possible deployment, Anadolu Agency reported Nov. 13.
Anadolu said Baakr made the remarks to Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA). He said sending troops to Yemen would require legal procedures and an official announcement.
The Associated Press reported Nov. 8, citing three officials familiar with the plans, that about 600 Syrian special forces were expected in Saudi Arabia during the following week. Advisers were already in the kingdom, AP reported, while no Syrian fighters had entered Yemen at that point. That account concerned a planned deployment to Saudi Arabia, distinct from claims of a force going to Yemen.
At a joint news conference in Damascus on Nov. 9, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani said Syria had no forces in Yemen and was not preparing to send them there in the near term. He said Damascus would make public any later decision to deploy forces abroad. EconoTimes covered al-Shaibani's earlier comments on a possible Yemen deployment.
