Pakistan Military Vows to Defend Saudi Arabia Against Houthi Attacks

ISPR – (Special Correspondent/Web Desk) – Pakistan military vows to stand by Saudi Arabia “to any extent,” a top army spokesperson said this week, as Houthi drone and missile attacks on Saudi cities keep growing. The statement marks one of Islamabad’s strongest public pledges yet toward its Gulf ally.

Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, head of Pakistan’s military media wing, told Arab News that Pakistan stands with Saudi Arabia both diplomatically and physically. He stressed the word “physically” to show this is more than just talk.

His comments follow a rough week for Saudi Arabia. Falling debris from an intercepted drone killed one person and hurt two others in Taif. Over 80 people have been wounded across recent Houthi strikes.

The Saudi-led coalition fighting Houthi forces in Yemen also said it stopped a drone heading toward restricted airspace near Makkah. The Houthis denied targeting the holy city.

Separately, drones launched from Iraq hit three pumping stations along Saudi Arabia’s East-West Pipeline. The strikes forced a temporary shutdown of this key oil export route.

A Growing Defense Partnership

Chaudhry’s remarks came a little over a month after Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Türkiye signed the Makkah Joint Defense Agreement on August 7. Under this pact, an attack on any one nation counts as an attack on all three.

This new deal builds on an earlier bilateral agreement Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed in September 2025. That pact also treats an attack on either side as an attack on both nations.

Still, the fine details of both agreements remain unclear. Neither government has revealed exactly what kind of military response each pact requires.

Troops Already on Saudi Soil

Pakistan already keeps a strong presence inside the Kingdom. Reports from May said Islamabad sent around 8,000 troops, JF-17 fighter jets, drones, and an HQ-9 air-defense system to Saudi Arabia.

Chaudhry described the bond between the two nations as deep, historic, and unbreakable. He called Pakistan’s commitment to Saudi security unconditional.

Nuclear Question Left Unanswered

One key question stayed unclear. Chaudhry did not confirm or deny whether Pakistan’s nuclear weapons fall under the defense pact.

Pakistan’s officials have given mixed signals on this before. A defense minister once said the country’s nuclear capability could be shared with Saudi Arabia if needed, but he later walked that back, saying nuclear weapons were not part of the deal.

A Push for Peace, Not Just War

While vowing military support, Pakistan is also trying to calm the wider region. Its army chief spoke by phone with Iran’s foreign minister this week, though the exact details of Houthi attacks in that call were not shared.

Pakistan earlier helped bring the US and Iran to the table, producing the Islamabad memorandum in June. That effort still guides Pakistan’s push for a peaceful outcome, even as talks have slowed recently.

For now, Pakistan’s message is clear: it stands firmly behind Saudi Arabia, but it also wants to see the region step back from war, not deeper into it.