DUBAI/TEHRAN/WASHINGTON: Thousands of Syrian troops are set to deploy to Saudi Arabia and Yemen, with some already on the ground, multiple Yemeni officials told Later. On Saturday, Syria's official SANA news agency cited a diplomatic source who insisted Damascus had not sent troops to Yemen "at this time".
However, a source from the Presidential Leadership Council, Yemen's top governing body, told Later, and a high-level Yemeni defence ministry source confirmed the development. Houthi media said on Saturday that Saudi strikes killed 27 people, most of them women and children, in Yemen's Sanaa province, as deaths mount in the country's revived civil war.
The Saudi-led coalition in a statement on Saturday said it had intercepted and destroyed a Houthi missile launched towards Riyadh province. The Houthis, meanwhile, said they had launched multiple missile and drone attacks against Saudi troops and infrastructure both in the Gulf kingdom and Yemen.
The group said six operations targeted Aramco oil facilities, Riyadh airport and Saudi military positions on both sides of the border, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree posted on X. Meanwhile, building on a months-long naval blockade on Iran, the US military said on Saturday it is launching a task force to help crack down on Tehran's movement of advanced weapons and other sanctioned material over its land borders and through the Caspian Sea.
Task Force Iron Gate, which was first reported by media, will also focus on halting the flow of dual-use technologies used by Iran and stemming what Washington calls illegal revenue streams. A US Central Command spokesperson said the task force will coordinate with other government agencies.
A US military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that was expected to include the Treasury, State and Justice Departments, as well as the intelligence community. Mediators have intensified efforts in recent days to end the war between Iran and the United States.
Qatar's Prime Minister said the country's mediation efforts between the US and Iran were continuing to prevent the situation in the region from spiraling out of control, Al Jazeera TV reported on Saturday. The US administration remained willing to find a solution even after the elections, signaling that Washington's interest in reaching an agreement had not changed, Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said.
Significant progress had been made and Al-Thani expressed confidence that a settlement could be reached. "We cannot wait to reach a perfect agreement; we hope to reach a good agreement," he said.
Iran said on Saturday its military had grown "stronger" since the outset of its war with the United States. Washington also offered a $20 million reward for information about Tehran's nuclear programme.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Instagram on Saturday that over the past 48 hours he held phone calls with ministers from 12 countries. US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, called Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on Friday to discuss efforts to end the war.
Iranian army spokesman Mohammad Akraminia said the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed until Tehran's demands were met by Washington. He also said Iran's forces "are on higher alert and are stronger than they were at the beginning of the war".
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also held discussions regarding regional stability.