Officials from Turkey, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are set to meet in Riyadh on Monday to discuss how the three countries’ new Mecca Joint Defense Agreement should respond to escalating Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, according to statements from the pact’s signatories.
The meeting comes a day after Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said he hoped a “rumor” that Pakistan had deployed troops to Saudi Arabia for a war against the Houthis in Yemen was untrue, warning that any “new intervention” would only make the situation more complicated.
“We have heard this rumor, and we hope that it is not true and really is just a rumor, because both we and the countries of the region know that any new intervention in developments related to Yemen would only make the situation more complicated,” he said.
“As for the defense pact, the intention was, and God willing still is, that this pact not be used in a way that goes against the interests and general concerns of the Muslim ummah (collective).”
According to the foreign ministries of Pakistan and Turkey, the meeting is being attended by Pakistani Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar, Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif and Army Chief of Staff Asim Munir, as well as Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Defense Minister Yaşar Güler and Chief of General Staff Selçuk Bayraktaroğlu.
Pakistan encourages diplomatic solution to Houthi threat
Though Dar said at a news conference on Friday that Islamabad had encouraged a diplomatic solution to the Houthi threat, arguing that Iran was not interested in seeing the situation escalate, Saudi Arabia has received several arms shipments amid reports that the kingdom is preparing for a full-scale war against the terrorist group.
Pakistani officials told Reuters earlier this week that Islamabad had provided Saudi Arabia with air defense systems and light artillery, and had sent between 30,000 and 40,000 troops to help defend the kingdom’s land borders and support the interception of aerial attacks.
Dar also claimed that at least six countries had expressed interest in joining the defense pact, but insisted that new membership would not be possible until it is fully operational.