Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan will convene an urgent meeting of their chiefs of staff to discuss support for Riyadh amid escalating tensions with Yemen's Houthis. The announcement follows a call from Saudi Arabia's Grand Mufti urging soldiers to be ready to sacrifice their lives fighting the Houthis.
The planned meeting between Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan signals a coordinated effort to address regional security concerns stemming from the conflict in Yemen and Houthi aggression, potentially impacting global shipping lanes and broader geopolitical stability in the Middle East.
Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan are set to hold an urgent meeting of their chiefs of staff to discuss ways to back Riyadh amid escalating tensions with Yemen's Houthis, the Saudi foreign ministry announced on Friday, September 25, 2026. The announcement follows a call from Saudi Arabia's Grand Mufti, Sheikh Saleh bin Fawzan Al-Fawzan, urging soldiers to be ready to sacrifice their lives fighting the Houthis until they are ousted.
The Grand Mufti's statement, posted on the Saudi state news agency, drew on religious texts to frame the conflict as a defense of God's cause, emphasizing the duty to protect the nation and punish aggressors. He also stressed the obligation to assert the authority of the internationally recognized Yemeni government over the entire country. The Houthis recently lost control of the vital Bab el-Mandeb waterway, a significant development in the conflict that Saudi Arabia joined in 2015.
The current escalation is seen as part of the wider Iran conflict, with the Houthis launching missile and drone attacks on the kingdom and Saudi Arabia responding with airstrikes. Observers are questioning whether Saudi Arabia will initiate a broader military operation alongside the Yemeni government forces it supports.
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