ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said on Saturday that Islamabad is standing with Riyadh “like a rock” amid attacks on the Kingdom’s civilian infrastructure by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

The defense minister was referring to increasing attacks by the Yemen-based Houthi rebels against Saudi Arabia’s energy and aviation facilities. In recent weeks, Houthi attacks have included a deadly strike on Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport that killed at least 12 and injured over 300.

The Iran-backed Houthi movement has been fighting Yemen’s internationally recognized government since seizing the capital, Sanaa, in September 2014. After months of political tensions and growing unrest, Houthi fighters advanced into the capital and took control of key government institutions, prompting the collapse of the existing political transition in the country.

Pakistan, which signed a bilateral defense agreement with Saudi Arabia in September 2025 and a trilateral defense pact with the Kingdom in August that also includes Türkiye, has called for an immediate halt to the rebel attacks.

“Even at this time, when there are attacks taking place against Saudi Arabia, we are standing with Saudi Arabia like a rock,” Asif told reporters during a news conference in his hometown Sialkot.

“I do not want to go into details. We are signing defense agreements one after the other.”

The minister said the military played a “leading role” in the defense agreements with the Kingdom.

“Shehbaz Sharif is the prime minister and he has a role in it, no doubt,” Asif said. “But the entire initiative is being spearheaded by the field marshal.”

The Makkah Joint Defense Agreement, signed by Islamabad, Ankara and Riyadh in August, stipulates that any attack against one of the three countries will be considered by them an attack against them all.

Pakistan has said in the past that the pact remains open to other countries with similar objectives, adding that its main purpose is to promote regional peace, security and stability.