Pakistan and Turkey agree rapid deployment to Saudi Arabia as Yemen fighting escalates

Pakistan and Turkey have agreed to a rapid deployment of forces to Saudi Arabia, according to a joint statement issued by the three countries after an emergency meeting in Riyadh. The move comes as Saudi Arabia faces attacks from Iran-backed Houthi fighters in Yemen.

Yemen's Saudi-backed pro-government forces say they have secured the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait after launching a major offensive against the Houthis. With help from Saudi airstrikes, the Yemeni military said it has also regained control of the port city of Mocha. Fighting along the Red Sea coast has escalated in recent weeks, with the Houthis claiming to have captured territory across southwestern Yemen. It is the worst fighting seen in Yemen since the collapse of a four-year ceasefire.

Overnight, a Houthi spokesperson said the group had struck Riyadh Airport, an oil refinery and a military site in its latest wave of strikes across southern Saudi Arabia. The Saudi government has not yet confirmed those attacks.

Dr Benjamin Radd, a senior fellow at the UCLA International Institute, said the escalation removed any doubt that the Yemen conflict is now part of the broader war between the United States and Iran. He said the Houthis had brought the conflict to the Saudis and were angling for control of the Strait and vital port towns and coastal cities. In his view, they are acting as a proxy for Iran, advancing Iranian interests while undermining Saudi Arabia.

Radd said Saudi Arabia had previously asked the United States for help with the conflict, but that support is not forthcoming at the moment. He said any US assistance is most likely limited to logistics and satellite intelligence to the Saudi-led coalition, as Washington treats Yemen as a distraction from its main focus: neutralising Iran and reducing Iran's ability to control the Strait of Hormuz and to attack American forces in the region.

The war has been running since around 2014 and has caused widespread devastation in Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the world. Radd said the Houthis are committed to fighting to the end, view themselves as holding authority over Yemen, and are fighting a Saudi-backed central government. He questioned whether they would sacrifice the well-being of the wider Yemeni population to keep control.

He added that the conflict could become a war of attrition between the Saudi-led coalition and the Houthis, who are fighting from the mountainside. A key question is whether Iran's worsening economic position, with its currency plunging to its lowest ever against the US dollar and US measures limiting its oil exports and imports, will weaken its ability to fund proxy groups such as the Houthis. If that happens, it could affect where the Houthis get their resources and how firmly Iran can control them.