Syria, KSA seal defence deal, $403m loans

Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman have overseen the signing of several agreements, including a defence cooperation deal, and more than $403m in Saudi loans for Syria’s energy, housing, health and infrastructure sectors.

The agreements were signed on Wednesday, during al-Sharaa’s second visit to Riyadh in less than a month.

Syria’s Foreign Ministry called the cooperation agreement between the two countries’ defence ministries the “most notable” of the deals. But it did not disclose the terms.

In its statement on X, the Syrian Foreign Ministry said al-Sharaa and Prince Mohammed had discussed the “current regional and international situation” during their talks in Riyadh.

That included 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, it said.