Pakistan Says Its Military Means Available to Saudi Arabia Under New Pact

Pakistan will make "whatever means are available" at its disposal available to Saudi Arabia, Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said, in one of Islamabad's clearest signals yet that it could be drawn into the widening regional conflict.

Speaking to reporters during a visit to Rome, Asif said Pakistan is bound by a mutual defence arrangement to defend Saudi Arabia. "Whatever means are available at our disposal, they'll be available to Saudi Arabia also," he said, describing the position as categorical.

He declined to say whether Pakistani forces had already taken part in airstrikes, and did not indicate whether Riyadh had requested assistance. His remarks came days after the army chiefs of Pakistan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia met in Riyadh to discuss responses to Houthi attacks.

Asif described the Houthis as aggressors against Saudi Arabia and said Pakistan's commitment was unambiguous. "Any enemy of Saudi Arabia is an enemy of Pakistan," he said, adding that Islamabad would help Riyadh in any conflict, whether the threat came from the Houthis, a state or another outfit.

Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey signed the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement on August 7, under which an attack on one member is treated as an attack on all three. The pact brings together oil-rich Saudi Arabia, NATO member Turkey and nuclear-armed Pakistan, and the countries have described it as defensive and not aimed at any particular state.

The fighting between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis has become an early test of the alliance. Iran has long supplied the Houthis with weapons and other assistance, though Tehran denies directing their military operations.

Asif suggested the Houthis and some Iraqi militias might now be acting with substantial independence from Iran. "Some of these proxies, they become rogue," he said, adding that Iran does not accept the Houthis as its proxy.

He warned that conflicts are difficult to contain once begun, noting that the fighting has spread from one side of the Arabian peninsula to engulf Saudi Arabia's Red Sea coast.

On the future of the pact, Asif said there was no indication of it expanding in the immediate future, though other countries in the region have shown interest in joining. He said the arrangement reflected a sense of insecurity and what he called the failure of earlier security arrangements for Gulf states, and that a secretariat and the agreement's supporting structures are still being set up.