Syria's al-Sharaa Meets Saudi Crown Prince in Riyadh: Defence Cooperation Deal Signed and Over $403 Million in Saudi Loans Agreed
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa arrived in the Saudi capital Riyadh on November 4 for an official visit and met Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at Al-Yamamah Palace. During the visit, the defence ministries of Syria and Saudi Arabia signed a defence cooperation agreement, and the Saudi Fund for Development signed six concessional loan agreements worth more than $403 million with Syria's Finance Ministry, covering energy, housing, healthcare and infrastructure rebuilding.
According to the Saudi Press Agency, al-Sharaa's delegation included Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani, the defence, finance and industry ministers and the head of the General Intelligence Directorate; he was received at King Khalid International Airport by the deputy governor of the Riyadh Region. It was al-Sharaa's second visit to Riyadh in less than a month, following his October 6 meeting with the crown prince. Syria's Foreign Ministry called the defence cooperation agreement the most notable of the deals signed during the visit but did not disclose its terms.
The loan package includes $100 million to rebuild and equip damaged healthcare facilities, $60 million to repair damaged housing, $105 million to strengthen civil defence, $90 million to rehabilitate the Aleppo thermal power plant and $30 million for drinking water systems in Damascus and Idlib, with the agreements also covering electricity and the digital transformation of government financial services. The two governments also signed a memorandum of understanding on industrial cooperation and two further memorandums on agriculture and environmental protection.
Syria's Foreign Ministry said the two leaders discussed the regional and international situation, including the effects 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 de-escalation and the peaceful resolution of disputes, and urged an immediate cessation of all actions threatening the security of maritime navigation in the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandeb strait and the Strait of Hormuz.
The visit came as Yemen's Houthi group continues missile and drone attacks on targets inside Saudi Arabia. Days earlier, Foreign Minister al-Shaibani said at the Manama Dialogue in Bahrain that his government was evaluating whether to join a mutual defence arrangement among Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Pakistan. Saudi Arabia has been a key backer of Syria's government since al-Sharaa came to power after the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024; al-Sharaa again invited the crown prince to visit Syria.
Source: Reuters
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：叙利亚总统 Ahmed al-Sharaa 资料照片（2026年3月）。CC BY 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa (file photo, March 2026). CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
