The escalation has brought renewed scrutiny to the Mecca Agreement, which commits Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye to treating an attack on any one of the three countries as an attack on all three. So why is Islamabad reluctant to join the war?
More than a month after Pakistan signed the Mecca Agreement with Saudi Arabia and Türkiye, the escalating conflict between Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Saudi forces is presenting Islamabad with its first serious test of the collective defence pact.
Saudi air defences on Tuesday intercepted and destroyed a Houthi drone south of Mecca, before it entered prohibited airspace over the holy city.