Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said the Strategic Political Defence Committee under the Makkah Accord will meet in Riyadh next week to discuss political engagement with the Houthis rather than military action following attacks on Saudi Arabia. “We will discuss political engagement with Houthis instead of kinetic action in the meeting next week,” he said.

Dar also said more than six countries are keen to join the defense pact linking Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan. The agreement treats an attack on one member as an attack on all three.

The planned political talks follow a Sept. 25 meeting in Riyadh at which the three countries’ military chiefs discussed closer cooperation and pledged commitment to collective defense. Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif subsequently pledged to make “whatever means” available to Saudi Arabia if it faces threats from the Houthis.