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Pakistan, Turkiye and Saudi Arabia will hold an emergency Riyadh meeting on Houthi attacks. The session signals deeper trilateral security coordination as regional tensions sharpen.
Islamabad,Oct 2, 2026 21:24 IST
A high-level committee of the trilateral Makkah defence alliance of Pakistan, Turkiye and Saudi Arabia will meet in Riyadh next week to discuss attacks by Yemen's Houthis on Saudi Arabia, Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said on Friday.
Dar said the foreign ministers of the three countries, whose Makkah defence pact was signed in August, had met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York last month to discuss the regional security situation. He said the upcoming meeting of the alliance's Strategic Political Defence Committee would be an emergency session, ahead of another meeting already planned for the end of October or beginning of November.
Speaking at a press conference in Islamabad, Dar said, "We made a plan because all three of us were present (in New York)," referring to himself, Turkiye's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan. He said the committee would meet in Riyadh to focus on Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia. "Very soon, a meeting of the whole SPDC has been agreed to in principle, to take place in Riyadh," he said. Responding to a query, he said the meeting would be held "next week".
Dar said a special meeting of the three army chiefs had also taken place in Riyadh on September 25 after the foreign ministers met in New York. The SPDC, a key body under the Makkah pact, includes the foreign ministers, defence ministers and chiefs of army staff of the three member countries.
He also condemned Thursday's airstrike on a power plant in Medina, which was blamed on the Houthis. Dar said he had spoken to Iran in detail about the Houthi attacks and reminded Tehran that Pakistan had its trilateral agreement to honour. According to him, Iran denied association "both with the Houthis and with the Iraqi militia" and suggested that the Houthis be "engaged politically", rather than through "kinetic action".
On the possibility of expanding the Makkah pact, Dar said at least six countries were eager to join, though he did not name them. He also said United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres would visit Pakistan soon, likely before the end of his tenure. Overall, Dar said the three Makkah pact countries were moving ahead with consultations on regional security, with the Riyadh meeting set to focus on the Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia.
With PTI Inputs
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