Pakistan leaders join Riyadh Makkah alliance talks amid Houthi threat

Pakistan's top civilian and military leaders will attend a high-level meeting of the trilateral Makkah alliance in Riyadh on Monday to discuss regional developments, as tensions remain high after attacks by Yemen's Houthis on Saudi Arabia.

The meeting of the Strategic Political and Defence Committee, or SPDC, will bring together representatives of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Trkiye to review the regional situation and ongoing cooperation under the Makkah Agreement signed by the three countries in August.

In a statement, Pakistan's Foreign Office said the country's delegation would include Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir, and Defence Minister Khawaja Asif. Their counterparts from Saudi Arabia and Trkiye are also attending the meeting.

The Foreign Office said the member states would discuss the "latest developments in the region and review ongoing cooperation under the framework of the Makkah Agreement". It added that Pakistan's participation reflected its "resolve to continue contributing towards regional peace and stability".

The trilateral defence agreement provides a framework for collective deterrence and says that an armed attack on any one of the three countries would be treated as an attack on all of them. The meeting comes after repeated attacks by the Houthis against Saudi Arabia. Dar, who has already reached Riyadh, said last week that the talks would focus on Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia.

The SPDC is a key body under the Makkah pact and includes the foreign ministers, defence ministers and chiefs of army staff of the three member countries. Last month, the chiefs of defence forces and chiefs of general staff of the three countries met in Riyadh to review the security situation and the threats facing Saudi Arabia. The foreign ministers of the three countries also met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York last month and discussed the challenges faced by the kingdom.

Pakistan has also recently appointed former Lt Gen Nauman Mahmood as the first secretary-general of the trilateral alliance. Monday's meeting is expected to review the regional situation, the security concerns of the member states and the cooperation mechanism under the new pact.