Published : 18 Sep 2026, 09:06 PM
Updated : 18 Sep 2026, 09:06 PM
Pakistan military spokesperson says it will go “to any extent” to defend Saudi Arabia against attacks, as escalating Houthi strikes test new collective defence agreement, Arab News reports.
The assurance came on Thursday after a series of missile and drone attacks by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis on Saudi targets.
Falling debris from an intercepted drone killed one person and injured two in Taif, while more than 80 people have been wounded in recent attacks, according to Arab News.
The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis in Yemen also said it intercepted a Houthi drone heading towards restricted airspace around Makkah.
Separately, drones launched from Iraq damaged three pumping stations along Saudi Arabia’s East-West Pipeline, temporarily disrupting the key oil-export route.
“Pakistan fully stands with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, both diplomatically and physically,” Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, director general of Inter-Services Public Relations, told Arab News.
Chaudhry said Pakistan’s commitment also covers the protection of Islam’s two holiest sites in Makkah and Madinah.
His remarks were stronger than Islamabad’s public position last week, when the Foreign Office said no Pakistani military response was under discussion under the Makkah Joint Defense Agreement, Arab News reports.
The pact treats an armed attack on Pakistan, Saudi Arabia or Turkiye as an attack on all three, while Islamabad said it would act “when the time comes”.
Signed on Aug 7, the agreement seeks to strengthen collective deterrence and builds on a September 2025 Pakistan-Saudi strategic defence pact, which similarly regards aggression against either country as an attack on both.
Chaudhry describes Pakistan’s commitment to Saudi security as “an emotive, deep-rooted, historical and unbreakable bond” between the two countries’ peoples, militaries, and political leaderships.
The military’s assurance came as Islamabad intensified diplomatic efforts to prevent the regional conflict from spreading.
Pakistan has sought to mediate the US-Iran war while conveying a Saudi warning to Tehran to use its influence to stop Houthi attacks on the Kingdom.
Chaudhry said Islamabad was also consulting regional governments to seek “a negotiated and peaceful outcome” to the broader crisis.
Asked whether Pakistan expects Washington and Tehran to return to negotiations soon, he offered no timetable, saying Islamabad was continuing to seek common ground despite mistrust, “spoilers” and “detractors”, Arab News reports.
