Pakistan vows to honour defence pact if Saudi faces Houthi attacks

Pakistan will treat any attack on Saudi Arabia as an assault on itself under the terms of the Makkah Defence Alliance, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said on Tuesday, signalling readiness to invoke collective security provisions of the three-nation pact. Speaking to media, Asif stressed there should be "no ambiguity" regarding Pakistan's commitment to defend fellow signatories Saudi Arabia and Turkey under the agreement inked last month in Islam's holiest city.

His remarks followed a major assault by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi forces, who unleashed waves of missiles and drones targeting Saudi cities, infrastructure and energy facilities. The strikes wounded at least 73 civilians and reignited concerns about regional escalation. Asif indicated that unprovoked aggression against any alliance member, or spillover of Yemen's conflict into Saudi territory, would activate the pact's joint defence clauses.

"There is no need for any clarity that this is a joint defence agreement," the Pakistani minister stated, underscoring the binding nature of the commitment. Pakistan has long positioned itself as a security guarantor for Saudi Arabia, with defence ties forming a cornerstone of bilateral relations. The Makkah Defence Alliance represents a formal institutional framework for that partnership, bringing Turkey into a coordinated security architecture with Islamabad and Riyadh.