By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has confirmed that its soldiers are already stationed in Saudi Arabia, days after Riyadh, Islamabad and Ankara activated a new three-way defence pact in response to escalating attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, director general of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the Pakistani military’s media wing, made the admission in an interview with CNN’s Ivan Watson.
Watson later posted a clip on X.
“I can confirm that the forces of Pakistan are already there,” Lt Gen Chaudhry said.
Asked whether troops were on the ground under the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement, signed by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, he said Pakistani personnel had been in the kingdom for far longer than the pact has existed. “Pakistan troops have been there for decades,” he said. “The Makkah alliance is not something that has come out in a vacuum.”
He added: “There is a sustained diplomatic, political, military and people-to-people relationship between Pakistan, Turkiye and Saudi Arabia. So, I can share with you that Pakistani forces, in multiple capabilities and domains, are already there.”
The comments follow an emergency meeting in Riyadh on Monday of the alliance’s Strategic Political and Defence Committee. It was the first time the alliance has been invoked since it was signed on 7 August.
A Pakistani Foreign Office statement said the committee had decided to move immediately to the practical implementation of its collective defence commitments. It said the three countries would provide the agreed forces and capabilities and ensure their rapid deployment in the kingdom, in line with approved arrangements and each country’s national laws. It did not name a specific threat or say what the troops would do.
Saudi Arabia’s defence minister, Prince Khalid bin Salman, said on X that the committee had agreed to activate collective deterrence measures in response to the attacks and those responsible for them. The meeting also condemned the attempted targeting of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.
The committee also appointed a retired Pakistani general, Nauman Mahmood, as the alliance’s first secretary general for a three-year term, according to the Foreign Office.
Pakistan’s defence minister, Khawaja Asif, part of the delegation in Riyadh, told a private television channel the same day that Saudi forces had made gains and recovered some areas in Yemen. Asked about a possible operational role for Pakistan and Turkey, he said both had a “presence in theatre”, but that only Saudi troops were involved in combat.
“Whatever assistance they require is being provided,” Asif said. “But right now, the Turkish and Pakistani armies are playing a supportive role.” He said Pakistan was involved in reconnaissance.
He had earlier said Pakistan would stand by Saudi Arabia “practically and diplomatically” if the situation escalated, and would meet all its obligations under the alliance.
The pact commits its members to treat an attack on one as an attack on all. On 25 September the military chiefs of the three countries met in Riyadh for urgent talks under its terms. A week earlier Lt Gen Chaudhry had said Pakistan would go to “any extent” to defend the kingdom and that its commitment was “unconditional”.
Pakistan’s military presence in Saudi Arabia is long established, and has included training and advisory deployments. Riyadh has repeatedly supported Islamabad financially in periods of economic stress.
The two countries also signed a separate bilateral defence agreement last September. Reuters reported in May that Islamabad had sent 8,000 troops, a squadron of fighter jets and an air defence system to the kingdom under that deal.
Turkey is also sending Saudi Arabia mainly defensive and technical support, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing two officials. Ankara, which has NATO’s second-largest army, has condemned the Houthi attacks. It has also agreed to join a Saudi-led coalition to ensure navigational safety in the Red Sea.
The alliance’s activation comes as the fighting in and around Yemen sharpens. The Houthis have fired missiles and drones at Saudi targets since late July, hitting industrial and energy infrastructure. Their attacks ended a 2022 truce that had largely halted fighting with the Saudi-led coalition.
On Sunday, Yemen’s internationally recognised government announced a major campaign to recapture all territory held by the Houthis. The Houthis said they had hit Aramco sites in Riyadh and the Khurais area. The coalition’s spokesman called the claims “misleading”, and Saudi Arabia did not immediately confirm any attack.
On Monday the Houthis went further, claiming strikes on Riyadh’s international airport and an Aramco refinery. That claim has not been independently verified. The Houthi-run health ministry said two people, including a child, were killed in Saudi air strikes near Sanaa.
The energy impact is already being felt. Saudi Arabia only recently restarted crude loadings at the Red Sea port of Yanbu, after attacks in September damaged pumping stations on the East-West pipeline.
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