{"id":133225,"date":"2026-09-17T09:40:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T04:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?p=133225"},"modified":"2026-09-17T09:40:01","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T04:40:01","slug":"pakistan-to-stand-by-saudi-arabia-practically-and-diplomatically-if-yemen-conflict-escalates-asif","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/133225\/","title":{"rendered":"Pakistan to stand by Saudi Arabia &#8216;practically and diplomatically&#8217; if Yemen conflict escalates: Asif"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ISLAMABAD(National Times)- Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Wednesday said Pakistan would \u201cpractically and diplomatically\u201d stand by Saudi Arabia against Yemen\u2019s Houthi rebels if the situation escalated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Earlier in the day, the Saudi-led coalition battling Yemen\u2019s Houthis accused the rebels of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/2030314\/saudi-led-coalition-says-shot-down-houthi-drone-heading-for-makkah\"><u>targeting<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;the holy city of Makkah, sparking outrage across the Muslim world and deepening the conflict roiling the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, the Houthis swiftly&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/2030315\/houthi-official-says-saudi-report-of-attack-on-makkah-lie\"><u>rejected<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;Riyadh\u2019s report as a \u201clie\u201d that it shot down a drone from the rebels heading towards Makkah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf the situation escalates, we will stand with Saudi Arabia, both practically and diplomatically,\u201d he said while speaking on&nbsp;<em>Geo News<\/em>&nbsp;programme \u2018<em>Aaj Shehzaib Khanzada Ke Saath<\/em>\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Commenting on the Pakistan-Turkiye-Saudi Arabia trilateral agreement \u2014 the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/2026391\/makkah-defence-alliance-to-be-institutionalised-pakistan-to-head-secretariat-for-3-years-fo\">Makkah Defence Alliance<\/a>&nbsp;\u2014 he affirmed that an agreement was in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, he said that even if there had been no such agreement, Pakistan was bound by an \u201ceternal agreement to respond if the holy sites come under attack\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere are some worldly agreements, too, and they have their own sanctity and obligations, but protecting the holy sites is our religious duty,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Asif maintained that Muslims around the world did not need an agreement to act if the holy sites in Makkah or Madina came under attack. \u201cThere is no need to activate any agreement,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The defence minister maintained that Pakistan would fulfil all its obligations under the Makkah Defence Alliance in accordance with the terms of the agreement between the three countries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ISLAMABAD(National Times)- Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Wednesday said Pakistan would \u201cpractically and diplomatically\u201d stand by Saudi Arabia against Yemen\u2019s Houthi rebels if the situation escalated. Earlier in the day, the Saudi-led coalition battling Yemen\u2019s Houthis accused the rebels of&nbsp;targeting&nbsp;the holy city of Makkah, sparking outrage across the Muslim world and deepening the conflict roiling [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":133226,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-133225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest_news","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Pakistan to stand by Saudi Arabia &#039;practically and diplomatically&#039; if Yemen conflict escalates: Asif - Nation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/133225\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pakistan to stand by Saudi Arabia &#039;practically and diplomatically&#039; if Yemen conflict escalates: Asif - Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"ISLAMABAD(National Times)- Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Wednesday said Pakistan would \u201cpractically and diplomatically\u201d stand by Saudi Arabia against Yemen\u2019s Houthi rebels if the situation escalated. Earlier in the day, the Saudi-led coalition battling Yemen\u2019s Houthis accused the rebels of&nbsp;targeting&nbsp;the holy city of Makkah, sparking outrage across the Muslim world and deepening the conflict roiling [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/133225\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-17T04:40:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-09-17T04:40:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Untitled-design-3-14.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"670\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"370\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/133225\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/133225\/\",\"name\":\"Pakistan to stand by Saudi Arabia 'practically and diplomatically' if Yemen conflict escalates: Asif - Nation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/133225\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/133225\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Untitled-design-3-14.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-17T04:40:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-17T04:40:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/133225\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/133225\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/133225\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Untitled-design-3-14.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Untitled-design-3-14.png\",\"width\":670,\"height\":370},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/133225\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Pakistan to stand by Saudi Arabia &#8216;practically and diplomatically&#8217; 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