# Pakistan reaffirms its Saudi defense pledge as Houthi strikes on Saudi airports enter a third day

Saudi Arabia confirmed that three people were killed in Houthi strikes on its airports, and Islamabad has confirmed it has troops in the kingdom under a defense pact signed in August.

- Published: 2026-10-09T05:18:28.882Z
- Canonical: https://polylog.news/2026-10-09/pakistan-reaffirms-its-saudi-defense-pledge-as-houthi-strike
- Publisher: Polylog (Global desk)
- Section: geopolitics
- Sources: [Dawn](https://www.dawn.com/news/2035878/pm-shehbaz-condemns-fresh-houthi-attacks-on-saudi-arabia-reiterates-commitment-to-kingdoms-security-under-makkah-pact), [ZeroHedge](https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/interpreting-russias-position-towards-islamic-nato)

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday [condemned the latest Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia](https://www.dawn.com/news/2035878/pm-shehbaz-condemns-fresh-houthi-attacks-on-saudi-arabia-reiterates-commitment-to-kingdoms-security-under-makkah-pact). He restated Pakistan's commitment to the kingdom's "sovereignty, territorial integrity and security" under the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement, signed on August 7.

The Houthis, who control most of northern Yemen and are backed by Iran, have [attacked Saudi airports and military sites for three straight days](https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/08/middleeast/riyadh-airport-houthis-explosion-intl). Their leader, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, has vowed to keep striking Saudi targets. [Strikes on two Saudi international airports have killed three people and injured at least 36](https://time.com/article/2026/10/08/saudi-arabia-yemen-houthi-rebels-airport-attacks-war/), and Saudi Arabia has confirmed the deaths. The Saudi-led coalition [said it intercepted three ballistic missiles](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/8/saudi-led-coalition-says-it-intercepts-three-houthi-ballistic-missiles) on Thursday. On October 4, the Houthis [claimed a strike on an Aramco facility](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/4/houthis-claim-strike-on-saudi-energy-facility-as-yemen-fighting-intensifies). The 2022 truce between the two sides broke down in July.

A Pakistani military official [confirmed that Pakistan has troops in the kingdom](https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/07/middleeast/houthis-attack-saudi-airports-latam-intl) but said the details were classified. A nuclear-armed South Asian state is now publicly committed to Saudi territorial defense at a time when Washington is focused on its own blockade of Iran.

Moscow's view of the new Muslim-majority security arrangement, which some commentators call an "Islamic NATO," is mixed. Andrew Korybko, an American political analyst based in Moscow, writes that [Russia officially has no objection to the bloc](https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/interpreting-russias-position-towards-islamic-nato) and hopes it may one day include Iran as part of Russia's vision for regional collective security. He argues, however, that it would be inaccurate to read Moscow's position as simple support.

## What this means

The Houthi campaign tests whether the Makkah pact works in practice or remains a statement. Riyadh wants a ground and air-defense partner whose commitment does not depend on US politics. Islamabad wants Saudi financing and influence in the Gulf, but its forces are already busy on its own western border. The new risk is that strikes on Saudi airports and Aramco sites carry the Iran war premium into Saudi infrastructure that markets had treated as separate from the Hormuz problem. That affects Saudi bonds, Gulf airlines and the kingdom's tourism and investment projects. In earlier rounds, the 2019 Abqaiq attack cut Saudi output for weeks but led to no direct military response from Washington. That precedent pushed Riyadh toward the arrangements it is now using. The desk's read is that Pakistan's role stays limited to air defense and protecting key sites rather than combat in Yemen within the coming months, because Islamabad cannot afford a second front. A Pakistani deployment inside Yemen would prove this read wrong and widen the war.

## What to watch

- Whether Houthi strikes hit Saudi oil export terminals rather than airports. Attacks on export terminals would add Red Sea supply risk to the Hormuz risk.
- Any official Pakistani statement on the size or role of its forces in Saudi Arabia. This would show whether the Makkah pact commits troops to combat or only to defense.
- Whether Iran is formally invited to join the Muslim-majority security arrangement, as Russia has said it hopes. An invitation would change the alignment of the Gulf's security structure.