Pakistan says Makkah pact members to hold emergency talks on engaging Houthis

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said Iran has suggested engaging Yemen's Houthis politically after attacks by the group, an idea a committee of ‌the Makkah defence pact will discuss at an emergency meeting in Riyadh ​next week.

The proposal ⁠comes as Saudi Arabia, which has accused the Houthis ‌of targeting Islam's two ‌holiest cities, faces escalating attacks.

Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan, the pact's three members, will decide next steps at the meeting, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar told a news ‌conference. He said the date would be confirmed later.

Dar said Iran had distanced ⁠itself from the Houthis and Iraqi militias, and that President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi both want the matter concluded. He said he had also briefed Tehran on the defence pact and how Pakistan would honour it.

"There is no written, solid offer. It is brainstorming between two foreign ​ministers," Dar said, describing the political approach as a suggestion made ‌in good faith. It would be discussed as an alternative to "kinetic action."

More than six countries are keen to join the pact, Dar said, without naming ⁠them or saying whether all were Muslim-majority nations. New membership requests cannot be entertained until the pact is fully operational, which could take up to a year, he added.

Saudi ​Arabia, ‌Turkey and Pakistan signed the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement on Aug.7, ‌pledging to treat an armed attack on any one of them as an attack on all three. Their military chiefs met in Riyadh on Sept.25 and ‌condemned Houthi attacks.

Pakistan's ‌military said in a statement on ⁠Friday that its top commanders strongly condemned Houthi attacks on ‌Saudi Arabia, expressing solidarity with the kingdom and commitment to the security of Islam's holy sites.

Dar also said there should be no ⁠fee or charges to cross the Strait of Hormuz. The ​blockaded strait has become the central bargaining chip in efforts to end the nearly seven-month US-Iran conflict.

Saudis plan assault on Houthis to break Red Sea chokeholdtttt

Saudi Arabia is planning an offensive against Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen, with options being considered including a coastal push to secure the Red Sea shipping route or an assault on multiple fronts, regional and Western officials told Reuters.

The operation, expected to be launched in the coming weeks, will by led by Yemeni forces on the ground, which are overseen by Riyadh, and supported by Saudi air strikes, according to six people with knowledge of the preparations.

While the US is already providing intelligence to support Riyadh's operations ‌in Yemen, and some regional and European nations are providing mainly defensive military aid to the kingdom, the Saudi allies aren't expected to play a direct role in combat operations, said the people who requested anonymity to discuss security ​matters.

Reuters