The Syrian Ministry of Interior has confirmed it is coordinating closely with Saudi Arabia on joint security operations aimed at tackling organized crime and terrorist threats. Many of these efforts, officials say, remain deliberately out of the public eye for security reasons.
Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Interior Ministry spokesperson Nour al-Din al-Baba revealed that cooperation between Damascus and Riyadh spans intelligence sharing, organizational support, and capacity building. He highlighted Saudi Arabia’s advanced security structures and extensive experience, emphasizing that Syria has already benefited substantially from this collaboration.
Al-Baba indicated that the coming period could see Saudi Arabia providing specialized training to Syrian units and personnel. In recent months, several high-level meetings have taken place, including talks early last month in Riyadh between Saudi Interior Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Naif and his Syrian counterpart, Anas Khattab.
According to the Saudi Press Agency, Prince Abdulaziz stressed that the meeting was held under directives from King Salman bin Abdulaziz and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, reflecting the Kingdom’s commitment to supporting Syria’s stability and sharing expertise.
Discussions also focused on setting mechanisms to implement the Crown Prince’s instructions to deliver comprehensive support to Syrian institutions.
Al-Baba explained that security cooperation is primarily focused on countering two key threats: narcotics trafficking, particularly captagon, and terrorism linked to ISIS remnants and sabotage cells that carried out attacks in March.
Just last week, the two interior ministries announced a significant joint operation in which Syrian authorities, acting on Saudi intelligence, seized large quantities of amphetamine tablets hidden inside industrial sites in Idlib and Aleppo provinces. The shipment was intended to be smuggled across the border.
According to al-Baba, the operation successfully disrupted the movement of tens of thousands of captagon pills, describing it as part of ongoing efforts to dismantle smuggling networks linked to remnants of the former regime.
He said many similar operations remain undisclosed due to operational sensitivities.
In April, Saudi Arabia hosted a Syrian security delegation for an in-depth review of the Kingdom’s policing practices and advanced security systems to help modernize Syria’s own institutions.
Talks between the two ministers also addressed broader cooperation in areas such as counterterrorism, fighting organized crime, border protection, and intelligence sharing. Officials underscored that this partnership aims to create sustainable mechanisms to improve stability and security across Syria.
