Makkah Defence Pact committee to meet in Riyadh next week on Houthi attacks

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar announced on Friday that the Strategic Political Defence Committee established under the Makkah Accord will hold an emergency meeting in Riyadh next week. The session will focus on recent Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, including a strike on a power plant in Madina that Pakistan has already condemned as unacceptable.

The committee comprises the foreign ministers, defence ministers and army chiefs of the three signatory nations. Their army chiefs already met in Riyadh on September 25, following a meeting of the three foreign ministers in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

“We are obligated to defend Saudi Arabia.”

Dar said the upcoming emergency meeting will examine the current situation and "ground reality" regarding Saudi Arabia. The committee is expected to hold its regularly scheduled session again after its work concludes around the end of October or early November.

Dar also disclosed that more than six countries have expressed interest in joining the Makkah Defence Pact, though he did not name them. He compared the pact's collective defence clause to NATO's Article 5, stating an attack on one member would be considered an attack on all.

Regarding Iran, Dar said he discussed the Houthi attacks in detail with Iranian officials and reminded them of Pakistan's trilateral obligations. According to Dar, Iran denied any association with the Houthi attacks.