'No ambiguity': Pakistan warns Houthi attack on Saudi Arabia could activate joint defence pact

This came after Houthi forces launched a wave of missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia, targeting cities and economic and energy infrastructure.

Pakistan said there should be "no ambiguity" that an attack on any one of the three members of the newly formed Makkah Defence Alliance would be treated as an attack on all, as it warned that the pact could become operative following Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia.

Khawaja Asif said any unprovoked aggression against a member state would activate the collective-defence provisions of the agreement signed by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkiye. (File Photo/Reuters)

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif's remarks on Tuesday come hours after Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi forces launched a wave of missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia, targeting cities and economic and energy infrastructure and injuring at least 73 civilians.

The minister said any unprovoked aggression against a member state, or a spillover of the Yemen conflict into Saudi Arabia, would activate the collective-defence provisions of the agreement signed by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye in Makkah last month.

"There should be no ambiguity; there is no need for any clarity that this is a joint defence agreement," Asif said in an interview with Geo TV channel.

Pakistan would honour its commitments to Saudi Arabia under the pact, he said.

"There should be no doubt about this. We are bound by the terms and conditions of this pact and, God willing, we will honour them in case there is a need," Asif asserted.

Asif, however, said he was not aware of any contact between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia following the Houthi attacks.

He stressed that the agreement was defensive in nature and did not authorise the three countries to launch attacks against another state on their own initiative.

"This is not an aggressive agreement under which the three countries would, on their own initiative, attack another country. But if there is any aggression against one member state, all three member states will respond," the minister said.

He expressed hope that tensions would subside, but warned the Houthis against extending the Yemen conflict beyond the country's borders.

"If they try to export them, the clauses of this agreement to counter aggression will become operative," Asif reiterated.

Asif described the Houthis as "non-state actors" and said there was sympathy for Iran across the Muslim world, including Yemen, over its ongoing conflict with the United States.

He, however, cautioned against allowing such sentiments to be used to widen an existing bilateral dispute.

The minister said the Makkah alliance could serve as a deterrent and did not necessarily mean that the three countries would respond to aggression with military force.

"We don't need to respond to a brick with a stone," he said, arguing that the combined military capabilities of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye should themselves act as a deterrent.

He said Saudi Arabia should not be dragged into what he described as an internal conflict in Yemen and expressed hope that diplomatic efforts could help prevent further escalation.

A Saudi-led coalition of Arab states has backed Yemen's internationally recognised government in its war against the Houthis for more than a decade.

The Houthis said Tuesday's attacks were retaliation for dozens of recent Saudi airstrikes on areas of northwestern Yemen under their control. On Monday, the group accused Saudi Arabia of bombing a prison in the city of Al Hazm, killing at least 11 people.