Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Pakistan held military chiefs of staff talks to support the kingdom as Yemen’s Houthis ramp up attacks on the world’s top crude exporter. The Iran-backed group has escalated its attacks on the kingdom since July, ending a years-long truce and declaring a maritime blockade, hitting Saudi targets and seizing Yemen’s entire Red Sea coast as they seek to stifle Saudi oil exports.
Turkiye’s defence ministry earlier said its chief of general staff was travelling to Saudi Arabia to attend the meeting, with Saudi state media also announcing planned military talks but without providing further details. Later yesterday, Ankara published photographs of the three military officials in uniform, stating that the meeting had taken place, without disclosing where.
The talks came after Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met in New York on Thursday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
The New York meeting “addressed ongoing arrangements for an urgent meeting of the chiefs of staff of the three countries to discuss ways to support the kingdom in accordance with the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement,” the statement shared by official Saudi news agency SPA said.
Last month, the three countries signed a joint defence agreement committing them to mutual defence if one is attacked. Despite the Nato-style clause, Pakistan and Turkiye have so far not hit back against the Houthis.
The three ministers also condemned Houthi attacks that targeted civilian and economic facilities in Saudi Arabia, SPA reported, as well as attacks on Makkah, Islam’s holiest city, which the Yemeni group has denied carrying out.
On Thursday, Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti Saleh bin Fawzan bin Abdullah al-Fawzan called on soldiers to “be prepared to fulfil your duty” and prayed for God to “eradicate the Houthi group and those who support it”.