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Three major regional powers — Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey — formalized a collective defense treaty on Friday, pledging to treat any armed assault on one nation as an attack on all three. The agreement was executed during talks in Saudi Arabia between Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, according to Pakistan’s foreign ministry statement.
The three signatories represent considerable military and economic clout: Saudi Arabia controls vast oil reserves, Pakistan possesses nuclear capabilities, and Turkey maintains NATO’s second-largest military force alongside a burgeoning defense manufacturing sector. Officials characterized the pact as a mechanism to “strengthen collective deterrence against any act of aggression,” the ministry said.
The timing of the agreement reflects Saudi Arabia’s strategic recalibration, as its energy infrastructure and production facilities have sustained repeated strikes tied to regional conflicts, prompting the kingdom to expand its defense partnerships beyond traditional alliances.
Meanwhile, Iran-backed Houthi militants escalated operations Friday morning, launching missile strikes against Marib province in eastern Yemen from positions west of the capital Sanaa. Military officials with Saudi-backed forces confirmed the bombardment, though casualty figures remain unclear. The rebels did not claim responsibility for the assault.
In a separate incident Thursday, the Houthis struck the Najran region in southwestern Saudi Arabia near the Yemen border, wounding 11 civilians including a woman and child with second-degree burns, according to Saudi Coalition spokesperson Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki. He denounced the attack as “indiscriminate shelling against civilian objects.”
A Houthi spokesperson stated Friday that the group intends to persist in targeting concentrations of Saudi-backed military forces. The recent strikes represent a major escalation since a 2022 truce that had substantially reduced hostilities in Yemen’s civil war.
In Lebanon, an Israeli strike wounded a soldier Friday as he operated a bulldozer clearing roads in the southern village of Mansouri, Lebanon’s military confirmed. The incident follows Israeli shelling earlier in the week and reflects mounting tensions over alleged ceasefire violations.
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