Pakistan providing Saudi Arabia ‘whatever support needed’ amid Houthi attacks: Army spokesman

Pakistan is providing Saudi Arabia with “whatever support is needed” to defend the kingdom amid attacks by Yemen’s Houthi group, a Pakistani military spokesman said in an interview aired Sunday, Anadolu reports.

“It’s non-negotiable; it’s absolute as far as Pakistan is concerned,” Pakistan Army spokesman Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry told Independent Arabia.

“So whatever support is needed to do that is being provided and will be provided,” he said, adding that alliances do not publicly disclose the specifics or extent of military support.

His remarks came amid Houthi attacks targeting Saudi oil and financial infrastructure, including airports, in recent weeks.

Chaudhry said Saudi Arabia’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and the security of the two holy mosques were “paramount” for Pakistan.

He stressed that there could be no “ifs and buts” concerning the security of the holy sites.

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have signed two defense agreements aimed at collective deterrence – the Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement and the Mecca Joint Defense Alliance, which also includes Türkiye.

The Mecca agreement, signed Aug. 7, allows signatories to treat an attack against one member as an attack against all three.

Asked whether Pakistan’s support would remain strictly defensive if Houthi attacks continued, Chaudhry said all three alliance members were “absolutely clear that this alliance has no offensive intent. It is purely defensive.”

Citing Article 51 of the UN Charter, which addresses the right to individual and collective self-defense, he said the alliance was intended to deter threats to regional stability.

He said the mechanism “gives a very strong and clear message to those elements of instability, of chaos, in the region that if you directly or indirectly wage this war against any of these three countries, then the response will be collective.”

“If that deterrence doesn’t work, then that deterrence has to be re-established by all means that are available to the three countries,” Chaudhry said.

However, he emphasized that Islamabad’s interactions and discussions with the parties involved were focused on “dialing down the escalation.”