Turkey, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia to hold talks after Houthi attacks
Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan will hold chief of staff talks to support the kingdom, Riyadh said in a statement on Friday, as Yemen's Houthis ramp up attacks on the world's top crude exporter.
The Iran-backed group has escalated its attacks on the kingdom since July, ending a years-long truce and declaring a maritime blockade, hitting Saudi targets and seizing Yemen's entire Red Sea coast as they seek to stifle Saudi oil exports.
Turkey's chief of general staff will travel to Saudi Arabia on Friday to attend the meeting, the Turkish defence ministry said in a statement. It was unclear whether the meeting would be held the same day.
The announcement came after Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met in New York on Thursday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
The meeting "addressed ongoing arrangements for an urgent meeting of the Chiefs of Staff of the three countries to discuss ways to support the Kingdom in accordance with the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement," the statement shared by official Saudi news agency SPA said.
Last month, the three countries signed a joint defence agreement committing them to mutual defence if one is attacked.
Despite the NATO-style clause, Pakistan and Turkey have so far not hit back against the Houthis.
The three ministers also condemned Houthi attacks that targeted civilian and economic facilities in Saudi Arabia, SPA reported, as well as attacks on Mecca, Islam's holiest city, which the Yemeni group has denied carrying out.
On Thursday, Saudi Arabia's Grand Mufti Saleh bin Fawzan bin Abdullah Al-Fawzan called on soldiers to "be prepared to fulfil your duty" and prayed for God to "eradicate the Houthi group and those who support it".
Source: Agence France Presse
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