Syrian Soldiers Dig In on Side of Former Foes : Deployment: A commando brigade joins multinational force defending Saudi Arabia.

Syrian commandos have taken up defensive positions south of the Kuwait border, declaring they are prepared to do battle against Iraq alongside their former U.S. foes.

“In this fight, there is no stranger,” a young Syrian soldier declared. “We came to Saudi Arabia to defend Saudi Arabian land, and the Americans, they came for the same reason. Any country of Arabs asks for help, we will come as soon as possible.”

Syria’s 3,500 troops have until now been the only invisible element of the growing multinational ground force in Saudi Arabia. Journalists had been refused permission to visit the Syrian encampments, and details of the former Moscow ally’s deployment had been sketchy.

On Tuesday, coinciding with the restoration of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and the Soviet Union, two busloads of reporters and photographers were invited to the Syrian camps for a look at the commando brigade that would stand with other Arab forces on the front lines against Iraqi troops.

The Syrians, armed with much of the same Soviet-made weaponry and armor as the Iraqis, are in many cases fresh from deployment in Lebanon, where they fought U.S. allies, including Lebanese Christian militias and Israel, for dominance during a 15-year-old civil war.

In recent years, Syria’s relations have been rocky with other Arab countries that have sent forces to Saudi Arabia, especially Egypt, with which Syria only recently resumed ties after a decade-long hiatus that followed Egypt’s peace agreement with Israel. Relations with Saudi Arabia, which until recently supported Syria’s longtime enemy, Iraq, had been cool.

Now Syrian forces are deployed within 10 miles of their Egyptian and Saudi counterparts and say they are ready to serve with U.S. forces deployed in Saudi Arabia.

The Syrian brigade’s commander, Brig. Gen. Deeb Mohammed Dhaher, a veteran of the 1973 war against Israel in the Golan Heights, said: “(Saudi Arabia’s) King Fahd has said this is a peaceful country. We are not here to launch an offense. The main mission is defensive. So the Syrian units are here for defense. But if they have to go on the offensive, they will be ready.”

A large photograph of Syrian President Hafez Assad stands on a barrel at the entrance to the Syrian camp, and in the middle of a compound of army-green tents, a commando serves Arabian coffee from a brass urn in china cups.

“I’m an Arab officer,” one commando said. “I’m ready to go any time to fight with other Arab countries.”

“Everybody knows,” said another, “that there’s a country that has tried to attack another country. We will go and try to stop the people who have started the fight. . . . The world is against criminal acts.”

Assad pledged to send an additional 15,000 troops, equipped with tanks, to Saudi Arabia after a visit to Damascus last week by Secretary of State James A. Baker III. The additional troops are scheduled to arrive soon, Syrian field commanders said.

Also deployed near the Syrian troops are portions of the Kuwaiti army that escaped with large numbers of tanks and other equipment after Iraq’s Aug. 2 invasion.

The Kuwaitis, dug in near the Saudi-Kuwait border, said Tuesday that they are hoping for an order from Saudi commanders to launch an offensive to drive Iraqi troops out of Kuwait.

“I expect to go back soon,” a tank commander told reporters. “We are expecting an attack order. I don’t know when. I hope it’s tomorrow. I’m ready now.”