Houthi attack on Mecca, Medina would cross ‘red line’, Pakistan PM tells UN

Shehbaz Sharif speaks as Islamabad, Riyadh and Ankara army chiefs meet to discuss Mecca pact, closer military ties.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif speaks during the United Nations General Assembly on Friday [Ryan Murphy/Getty Images/AFP]

Pakistan’s prime minister has condemned Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, warning that any “threat to the sanctity” of the Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina is a “red line that must never be crossed”.

Addressing the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Friday, Shehbaz Sharif denounced recent Houthi attacks as “deplorable”.

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He added that an attack by the Iran-aligned Yemeni group, which Riyadh says targeted Mecca, “outraged Muslims across the globe”. The Houthis have dismissed the accusations as a “heinous lie” .

Last month, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye signed a trilateral defence pact , formally known as the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement. The pact states that an attack on any member will be treated as an attack on all. However, Islamabad and Ankara have refrained from getting involved in Riyadh’s ongoing fight with the Houthis.

The ⁠military ⁠chiefs of all three countries met in Riyadh on Friday and ⁠discussed enhancing intelligence sharing and military ⁠coordination, ‌the Pakistani military said. The chiefs reviewed the security situation and ⁠threats facing Saudi Arabia, ⁠affirmed a commitment to collective defence and ⁠pledged to turn ⁠Mecca Agreement commitments into effective cooperation, the ‌army added.

It is not clear what, if any, support Ankara and Islamabad may provide to Riyadh. In a written interview published by the US media outlet Newsweek on Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said support could include “intelligence, logistics or ammunition, with more extensive military assistance possible depending on the scale of the threat”.

In Sharif’s UN address, he also referenced the US-Israeli war that was launched against Iran in late February, as well as Islamabad’s role as a co-mediator.

Pakistan’s efforts culminated in the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding , signed by Washington and Tehran, which was intended to help end the conflict.

The accord has since unravelled while regional countries push for a conclusive end to the war, which has caused a global energy crisis and exacerbated tensions across the Middle East.

“Yet amid the roar of missiles, drones and guns, the voice for diplomacy must echo even louder and stronger,” Sharif said.

He added that the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has effectively blockaded, and the Bab al-Mandeb waterway, which is now largely under Houthi control, are “arteries of the global economy” that should remain free and safe.

The Pakistani prime minister also denounced what he described as Israel’s “genocidal agenda” in Palestine, while condemning “Israeli aggression against Lebanon and Syria”. These were sentiments echoed earlier in the day by Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam in his UN General Assembly address.

India, Kashmir, Afghanistan

Closer to home, Sharif’s speech touched on tensions with Pakistan’s neighbours.

Criticising India, he accused New Delhi of weaponising the Indus waters, which both countries have jointly managed for more than six decades. The two neighbours heavily rely on the Himalayan river network.

Sharif warned that “any attempt to stop, impede or divert Pakistan’s share of the waters will be treated as an act of war”.

He also called for what he described as a “just and fair solution” to the Kashmir dispute, which both Pakistan and India claim in its entirety. Sharif alleged that there have been attempts to “alter the legal status” of Kashmir through demographic engineering.

Another pressing issue for Islamabad is the threat posed by the Tehrik-e-Taliban (TTP), or Pakistani Taliban. Sharif said groups operate from “sanctuaries inside Afghanistan, with the aim of destabilising Pakistan”, insisting that attacks launched from Afghanistan “must come to a grinding halt”.

This comes as the latest cross-border fighting left several Afghan Taliban fighters dead on Friday.

谢赫巴兹·谢里夫发表讲话，伊斯兰堡、利雅得和安卡拉的军队首脑举行会议，讨论麦加条约和更紧密的军事关系。

巴基斯坦总理谢赫巴兹·谢里夫周五在联合国大会上发表讲话 [Ryan Murphy/Getty Images/AFP]

巴基斯坦总理谴责胡塞武装对沙特阿拉伯的袭击，并警告说，任何对穆斯林圣城麦加和麦地那“神圣性”的“威胁”都是“绝不能逾越的红线”。

周五，谢赫巴兹·谢里夫在纽约联合国大会上发表讲话，谴责胡塞武装最近发动的袭击“令人发指”。

巴基斯坦总理称胡塞武装对沙特圣地的威胁是“红线”（共3条，此为第1条）

（共3条） 也门胡塞武装声称袭击沙特设施后，油价飙升（第2条）

内塔尼亚胡在联合国咄咄逼人的姿态在国内赢得欢呼，而世界各国却集体退场（共3条，此为第3条）

他补充说，伊朗支持的也门武装组织发动的袭击（利雅得方面称该袭击的目标是麦加）“激怒了全世界的穆斯林”。胡塞武装则驳斥了这些指控，称其为“弥天大谎”。

上个月，巴基斯坦、沙特阿拉伯和土耳其签署了一项三方防御条约，正式名称为《麦加联合防御协议》。该协议规定，对任何一个成员国的攻击都将被视为对所有成员国的攻击。然而，伊斯兰堡和安卡拉一直避免介入利雅得与胡塞武装的持续冲突。

巴基斯坦军方表示，三国军方首脑周五在利雅得举行会晤，讨论了加强情报共享和军事协调的问题。军方补充说，三国首脑审查了沙特阿拉伯的安全形势和面临的威胁，重申了对集体防御的承诺，并承诺将《麦加协议》的各项承诺转化为有效的合作。

目前尚不清楚安卡拉和伊斯兰堡会向利雅得提供何种支持（如果有的话）。土耳其总统雷杰普·塔伊普·埃尔多安周五在美国媒体《新闻周刊》发表的一篇书面采访中表示，支持可能包括“情报、后勤或弹药，根据威胁的规模，可能提供更广泛的军事援助”。

谢里夫在联合国大会上的讲话中还提到了2月下旬美国和以色列对伊朗发动的战争，以及伊斯兰堡作为共同调解人的角色。

巴基斯坦的努力最终促成了华盛顿和德黑兰签署的《伊斯兰堡谅解备忘录》，该备忘录旨在帮助结束冲突。

该协议此后逐渐瓦解，而地区各国则力求彻底结束这场战争。这场战争引发了全球能源危机，并加剧了中东地区的紧张局势。

“然而，在导弹、无人机和枪炮的轰鸣声中，外交的声音必须更加响亮、更加有力地回荡，”谢里夫说。

他还补充说，伊朗已有效封锁的霍尔木兹海峡和目前大部分由胡塞武装控制的曼德海峡是“全球经济的动脉”，应该保持自由和安全。

巴基斯坦总理还谴责了他所称的以色列在巴勒斯坦的“种族灭绝议程”，同时谴责“以色列对黎巴嫩和叙利亚的侵略”。黎巴嫩总理纳瓦夫·萨拉姆当天早些时候在联合国大会上的讲话也表达了类似的观点。

印度、克什米尔、阿富汗

在国内，谢里夫的演讲也谈到了与巴基斯坦邻国的紧张关系。

他批评印度，指责新德里将印度河水武器化，而印巴两国已共同管理印度河水资源六十余年。这两个邻国都严重依赖喜马拉雅山脉的河流网络。

谢里夫警告说，“任何试图阻止、阻碍或转移巴基斯坦应得的水资源份额的行为都将被视为战争行为”。

他还呼吁就克什米尔争端寻求“公正合理的解决方案”，巴基斯坦和印度都声称对克什米尔拥有全部主权。谢里夫指责有人试图通过人口结构改造来“改变克什米尔的法律地位”。

对伊斯兰堡而言，另一个紧迫的问题是巴基斯坦塔利班运动（TTP）构成的威胁。谢里夫表示，这些组织“藏身于阿富汗境内的庇护所，旨在破坏巴基斯坦的稳定”，并强调从阿富汗发动的袭击“必须立即停止”。

此前，周五发生的最新一起跨境冲突导致多名阿富汗塔利班武装分子丧生。