Islamabad, Pakistan — For the first time since it was signed in August, the Mecca pact between Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkiye is now in force. At an emergency meeting in Riyadh on Monday, the pact’s top committee agreed to deploy Pakistani and Turkish forces to the kingdom as Saudi Arabia backs an offensive against Yemen’s Houthis. The statement did not specify the size or role of the forces.
Saudi-led coalition spokesperson Major General Turki al-Malki said 100 fighter jets were supporting a Yemeni government counteroffensive to retake territory seized by the Houthis last month. Hours after the meeting, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said Pakistani forces were already playing a part. We are definitely involved in reconnaissance and such things, but the combat is practically being conducted by Saudi Arabia’s own forces, and they are the ones retaking those areas,” Asif told Geo News, speaking from Riyadh on Monday night.
That leaves Pakistan in a defensive role alongside a Saudi offensive. Analysts told Al Jazeera that it raises a question Islamabad has yet to answer publicly: How long it can stay out of the actual fighting? Pakistan’s military presence in Saudi Arabia is not new.
It has trained Saudi military personnel since 1967, with a 1982 agreement formalising the deputation of troops to the kingdom. A declassified CIA assessment from June 1985 estimated that 13,000 to 14,000 Pakistanis were serving in the Saudi army, including an armoured brigade at Tabuk. During the 1990-91 Gulf War, Pakistan also sent a large contingent to the kingdom for defensive duties.
Pakistan also signed a Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement with Saudi Arabia in September 2025, which treats aggression against either country as aggression against both. In April, Riyadh confirmed that a Pakistani force, including fighter and support aircraft, had arrived at King Abdulaziz airbase in the Eastern Province. Pakistan has never disclosed how many of its troops are in Saudi Arabia.
In September, Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, director general of the military’s media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), told the Saudi outlet Arab News that Pakistani forces were already deployed to protect the kingdom and its holy sites. On Tuesday, Pakistan’s Ministry of Information said in a post on X that the country’s commitment to the security of the holy sites and the kingdom was not negotiable. Asif said Turkish forces were also present, but Ankara has not publicly confirmed any deployment.
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