🇸🇦🇹🇷🇵🇰 Saudi, Türkiye and Pakistan Plan Urgent Defence Talks Amid Yemen Escalation

Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan are preparing an urgent meeting of their military chiefs to discuss possible support for Riyadh as fighting with Yemen’s Houthis intensifies.

The move follows a meeting of the three countries’ foreign ministers in New York. Their Mecca Joint Defence Agreement, signed on August 7, states that an attack on one of the three countries is considered an attack on all three.

Saudi Arabia reported intercepting six ballistic missiles launched towards Taif and Yanbu, while the Houthis claimed missile and drone attacks on targets in Riyadh and Saudi Aramco facilities in Yanbu.

France has also offered defensive support, with President Emmanuel Macron announcing the deployment of troops, radar and air-defence systems to help protect Yanbu.

The escalation has also triggered a major humanitarian crisis, with UNHCR reporting more than 230,000 new displacements in Yemen since September.