ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s foreign office spokesperson on Saturday condemned drone strikes this week that targeted Saudi Arabia’s East-West Pipeline, expressing solidarity with the Kingdom and describing the attack as a violation of international law.

Several people were injured in drone attacks that targeted the oil pipeline in the Riyadh and Madinah regions on Thursday morning. Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry said the drones were launched from Iraq.

Saudi Arabia temporarily shut down the pipeline on Friday, with emergency and specialized technical teams deployed immediately following the attacks to secure it and assess the pipeline’s safety in coordination with the relevant authorities.

“Pakistan strongly condemns the reprehensible drone attacks on the East-West Pipeline in Riyadh and Madinah regions of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, causing damage to the pipeline and injuries to civilians,” Pakistan’s foreign office spokesperson Sajjad Haider Khan said in a statement.

“These attacks and targeting of civilian infrastructure are a flagrant violation of the international law as well as sovereignty and territorial integrity of the brotherly Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and pose a serious threat to regional peace, security and stability.”

Khan reaffirmed Pakistan’s unwavering support for Saudi Arabia’s territorial sovereignty, integrity, security and expressed solidarity with the Kingdom’s leadership and people.

“Pakistan has been and will continue to make earnest efforts for achieving lasting peace and stability in the region,” the statement added.

The drone strikes targeting the pipeline takes place days after the Houthis, who control much of northern Yemen, launched drones and missiles at Abha, Khamis Mushait, Jazan and Najran on Tuesday. The group struck energy facilities and injured civilians, many of them women and children.

DEFENSE PACT

Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye last month signed a landmark trilateral defense pact in Makkah, which stipulates that an attack against any of the three countries will be considered an attack against all of them.

Following the Houthi attacks this week, Pakistan’s defense minister warned that the trilateral defense pact could become operational in the event of aggression against the Kingdom.

Pakistan also has a bilateral defense pact which it signed with Saudi Arabia in September 2025, deeming that an attack against any of the two nations will be considered an attack against them both.

The pact formalized decades of security cooperation between the two states, who enjoy cordial ties and close cooperation in trade, investment and several other domains.