Pakistan says Makkah alliance will act if Yemen war spills into Saudi Arabia

09-Sep-2026

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Pakistan has 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. Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said the pact signed by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye could become operative if the Yemen conflict spills into Saudi Arabia.

His remarks came hours after Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi forces launched a wave of missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia, targeting cities as well as economic and energy infrastructure. At least 73 civilians were injured in the strikes.

Asif said any unprovoked aggression against a member state, or any spillover of the Yemen conflict into Saudi Arabia, would activate the collective defence provisions of the agreement signed in Makkah last month. "There should be no ambiguity; there is no need for any clarity that this is a joint defence agreement," he said in an interview with Geo TV.

He said Pakistan would honour its commitments to Saudi Arabia under the pact. "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 said.

At the same time, the minister said he was not aware of any contact between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia following the Houthi attacks. He stressed that the agreement was defensive and did not authorise the three countries to launch attacks against another state on their own.

"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," he said.