A joint statement after a Riyadh meeting said the three countries would move immediately to deploy agreed forces in Saudi Arabia. Pakistan's defence minister said the role so far was support, not combat.
Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey agreed on Monday to implement their collective defence commitments at once and to ensure the rapid deployment of agreed military forces and capabilities in Saudi Arabia, a joint statement shared by Pakistan's foreign ministry said.
The decision came at an emergency meeting of the Mecca Defense Alliance in Riyadh and is to be carried out under approved arrangements and each country's laws. The three signed the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement in August, under which an attack on one member is treated as an attack on all. The original text did not set troop numbers.
The statement did not specify the size or role of the forces. Hours after the meeting, Pakistan's defence minister, Khawaja Asif, told Geo News from Riyadh that Turkish and Pakistani forces were in a supporting role, including reconnaissance, and that combat was being conducted by Saudi forces.
The Saudi defence minister said on X that the meeting reaffirmed solidarity against attacks on the kingdom and holy sites. The Saudi-led coalition said last week that the Houthis had struck a power station in Medina that supplies the Prophet's Mosque.
No deployment timetable or unit list was published on Tuesday. Asif's account is the only public description so far of what the supporting role includes.
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- Khawaja Asif said Turkish and Pakistani forces were in a supporting role and that Saudi forces were conducting the combat.
- The Saudi defence minister said the meeting reaffirmed solidarity against attacks on the kingdom and holy sites.