Pakistan Backs Saudi Arabia After Drone Intercepted Near Makkah, Calls for Regional Restraint
By Shahnoor Saqib — SCN News
ISLAMABAD — Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Pakistan stood “shoulder to shoulder” with Saudi Arabia on Wednesday after Saudi forces intercepted a drone south of Makkah, strongly condemning the attempted attack while simultaneously urging all sides to exercise restraint as fighting involving the kingdom and Yemen's Houthis intensifies.
Saudi Arabia said its forces destroyed a Houthi drone on Tuesday evening before it entered prohibited airspace over Makkah, Islam's holiest city. The Saudi-led coalition described the security of Makkah and the Two Holy Mosques as a “red line” and said the interception prevented the aircraft from reaching the restricted area.
The Houthis denied that they had attempted to target Makkah or other religious sites. That denial is significant because Riyadh has attributed the drone to the Iran-aligned Yemeni group, while the Houthis have claimed responsibility for other recent attacks on Saudi territory. SCN therefore attributes responsibility for the Makkah incident to the Saudi account rather than presenting it as independently established.
Shehbaz condemned what he called the attempted drone attack against Makkah Al-Mukarramah and praised the Royal Saudi Armed Forces for their response. He said Pakistan remained unwaveringly alongside the kingdom in defending its sovereignty and territorial integrity and protecting the security and sanctity of the Haramain Sharifain.
The prime minister also urged the parties involved in the widening confrontation to exercise “maximum restraint” and step away from further escalation, saying the region had already suffered extensively from conflict and that dialogue and diplomacy remained the sustainable path towards peace.
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar issued a separate statement condemning what Pakistan described as a Houthi drone attack targeting Makkah. Dar said such an act violated Saudi sovereignty and territorial integrity, offended the religious sentiments of Muslims around the world and threatened regional peace and security.
Pakistan's response follows an escalation in cross-border fighting between Saudi forces and the Houthis. Saudi Arabia has reported a series of drone and missile attacks, while Saudi-led forces have carried out extensive strikes against Houthi positions in Yemen. The Houthis have also made territorial gains along Yemen's Red Sea coast as the conflict moves closer to strategically important maritime routes.
The Makkah incident is particularly sensitive because millions of Muslims travel to the city for Hajj and Umrah and because of the religious significance of the Grand Mosque and Kaaba. Saudi authorities said the intercepted drone was destroyed south of the city before entering prohibited airspace. No casualties or damage in Makkah were reported from the incident.
Saudi officials described it as the second known Houthi attempt to threaten Makkah, referring to an earlier missile incident in 2017. The Houthis disputed Saudi Arabia's characterisation of the latest incident and denied targeting religious sites.
The attempted strike came amid broader Saudi security alerts following attacks on military and energy targets. Riyadh has reported Houthi attacks against locations including Khamis Mushait, while damage to Saudi Arabia's East-West oil pipeline has disrupted crude movements towards the Red Sea and increased concern about the security of regional energy infrastructure.
The escalation has particular implications for Pakistan because Islamabad maintains close political, economic and defence relations with Riyadh and has repeatedly affirmed support for Saudi sovereignty. At the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday, Pakistan's ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad condemned Houthi attacks against Saudi Arabia while also calling for de-escalation and a return to an inclusive, Yemeni-led political process under UN auspices.
Pakistan's position therefore contains two parallel elements: explicit support for Saudi Arabia's security and territorial integrity, and a diplomatic call to prevent the confrontation from expanding into a wider regional war. Shehbaz's statement on Wednesday repeated both positions rather than announcing any new Pakistani military deployment.
That distinction is important because Pakistan's declaration of solidarity does not by itself mean Pakistani forces have entered the Yemen conflict. AP reported that Pakistan and Turkey had expressed solidarity with Saudi Arabia but that no military support had been offered under the countries' defence arrangements in connection with the latest escalation.
Islamabad is also increasingly concerned about the economic consequences of the fighting. Houthi operations around Yemen's Red Sea coastline and Bab al-Mandab, combined with pressure on Saudi oil infrastructure and disruptions elsewhere in the Gulf, have raised risks to commercial shipping, energy supplies and global supply chains. Pakistan, a major energy importer, is directly exposed to prolonged disruption of those routes.
The Makkah interception consequently adds a religious and political dimension to a confrontation that was already affecting regional security and energy markets. For Pakistan, the challenge will be maintaining its explicit commitment to Saudi security while continuing the diplomatic de-escalation effort that Islamabad says is necessary to prevent the Yemen fighting from feeding into the wider Middle East conflict.