Pakistan Says Mecca Pact Is Supporting Saudi Arabia With Houthis

Pakistan’s Defense Minister said his country and Turkey have been supporting Saudi Arabia in its conflict against the Houthis, as a trilateral security pact signed earlier this year faces its first test.

“We are here and providing any assistance or help they need,” Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said Monday in an interview with Geo News.

He didn’t clarify what support is being extended, but said it’s the Saudi Arabian forces that are engaged in the conflict, signaling that troops from other members of the alliance are not involved in an offensive capacity. Both countries have a military presence in Riyadh, Asif added.

“Pakistan and Turkey’s armed forces are playing a supportive role in the conflict,” Asif said.

Tensions between Riyadh and the Yemeni-based militant group backed by Iran have continued to intensify over the last month, with the Saudi-led coalition announcing a large operation on Sunday to recapture Houthi-held territory in Yemen. The Islamist group has regularly attacked Saudi Arabian cities and energy sites.

Read More: Saudi-Backed Yemen Forces Begin Bid to Retake Houthi Areas

Asif was in Riyadh to attend an emergency meeting of the Mecca Defense Alliance, which included defense ministers, foreign ministers and army chiefs of the three countries.

Pakistan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia agreed to “move immediately to the practical implementation of the collective defense commitments,” according to a joint statement released after the meeting on Monday. The alliance members will “take the necessary measures to provide the agreed military forces and capabilities and ensure their rapid deployment” in Saudi Arabia.

Last month, Pakistan vowed to abide by the defense agreement and said any attack on Saudi Arabia could trigger it. Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan signaled it was ready to provide technical military support .

Read: Pakistan Pledges to Honor Security Pact If Saudi Arabia Attacked

“The pledge by Turkey and Pakistan to deploy forces to Saudi Arabia to counter the Houthis is the first sign that the Mecca alliance is more than a paper tiger,” Verisk Maplecroft’s analyst for the Middle East and North Africa, Hamish Kinnear, said Tuesday in an note. “It is a major boon for Riyadh.”

Kinnear said comments on the defensive nature of the support likely refers to the interception of Houthi missiles and drones fired at Saudi Arabia.