حوثیان سعودی دفاعی وزارتءِ سرءَ حملهءِ دعوا کُت، پاکستان ءَ بادشاهیءِ «پوره زورءَ» دفاعءِ قول دات

The Houthis, who have held Sanaa since 2014 and are accused of receiving Iranian support, have stepped up attacks on Saudi airports, oil facilities and military sites since the summer, opening another front in the wider US-Israeli war on Iran. The coalition said it had struck Houthi missile launchers, storage tunnels and a missile depot inside Yemen.

‘Full force’

In Islamabad, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif told Geo News that the defence of Saudi Arabia was as important to Pakistan as the defence of its own territory. “We will defend Saudi Arabia with full force,” he said, calling the repeated targeting of Riyadh’s airport and attempted attacks on the Haramain Sharifain “very unfortunate”.

Asif said Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye had made a written commitment to respond together to any threat covered by their pact. “Now that three countries are involved, by agreement also, we will defend each other’s territory against any foreign aggression,” he said. He was speaking after Field Marshal Asim Munir joined Saudi and Turkish officials in Tehran for talks with Iran’s leadership, at which the four countries agreed to keep talking. Asif said some progress had been made and that possible US action had “definitely” been discussed, though he remained “slightly guarded” about the outcome.

Ankara moves to ratify

In Ankara, the Turkish parliament’s foreign affairs committee approved a bill ratifying the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement, which President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif signed on August 7. Deputy Foreign Minister Levent Gümrükçü told lawmakers that Saudi Arabia and Pakistan had already completed their ratification. The bill still needs a vote of the full assembly.

Gümrükçü said the pact was purely defensive, did not target any country and was open to regional states that respect international law. It covers collective deterrence, joint training and exercises, defence-industry co-production and counterterrorism, he said. Committee chairman Fuat Oktay dismissed suggestions that it was an alternative to NATO. “Absolutely not,” he told reporters. A ruling-party lawmaker said last week that Ankara would seek a separate mandate to deploy military personnel to Saudi Arabia once the agreement is ratified.