Pakistan is moving closer to directly confronting the Iran-backed Houthis, deploying 30,000 to 40,000 troops inside Saudi Arabia as the war escalates.

This is not yet a Pakistani invasion of Yemen. The troops are holding Saudi borders and helping intercept Houthi missiles and drones. Their purpose is to protect Saudi territory, oil infrastructure and the Islamic holy sites while Saudi Arabia prepares a major offensive.

The ground war would be fought by Yemeni forces under Saudi command, backed by Saudi airstrikes. More than 100,000 Yemeni troops could be mobilized to retake Bab el-Mandeb or attack across several fronts.

Pakistan is already enabling that campaign. It sent four cargo aircraft carrying air-defence systems, artillery, drones and anti-drone equipment into Aden. Pakistani military advisers are working with Saudi counterparts supporting Yemeni forces.

Turkey has supplied drones, France is reinforcing Yanbu and the United States is providing intelligence and military advice. The Houthis are no longer facing fractured Yemeni forces and Saudi aircraft alone. A wider military architecture is forming against them.

Pakistan once tried to rescue the Islamic Republic diplomatically by brokering the Islamabad Memorandum with the United States. Now the same country has joined Saudi Arabia and Turkey in a collective-defence pact that treats an attack on one as an attack on all.

Pakistan’s defence minister has declared that any enemy of Saudi Arabia is an enemy of Pakistan. Its military has described the commitment to defend Saudi Arabia and the holy sites as physical, unconditional and absolute.

Pakistan has not decided to send combat troops into Yemen, but the operational line is already shifting. Its forces are intercepting Houthi attacks, protecting the Saudi rear and advising the forces preparing to advance. That is military involvement even without Pakistani infantry crossing the border.

It also places tens of thousands of Pakistani troops directly in the line of Houthi missile and drone fire. Every successful interception and every Pakistani-supported operation increases the possibility of Pakistani casualties and retaliation. The distance between defending Saudi Arabia and entering the war is rapidly shrinking.

A direct Pakistan–Islamic Republic confrontation is no longer unthinkable. The two countries share a volatile 900-kilometre border and exchanged strikes in January 2024. The Islamic Republic attacked targets inside Pakistan with missiles and drones, killing two children. Pakistan retaliated two days later with drones, rockets and stand-off weapons against targets inside Iran. At least nine people were killed.

Both sides contained that crisis, but it demonstrated how quickly their relationship can move from diplomacy to cross-border warfare. Pakistan now supporting Saudi operations against the Islamic Republic’s most important remaining regional proxy creates another potential ignition point.

If Houthi weapons kill Pakistani troops, strike the holy sites or are traced directly to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Pakistan could retaliate against Houthi infrastructure, Iranian-linked networks or targets connected to the weapons pipeline. The Islamic Republic could answer through proxies, border pressure or further support for attacks on Saudi territory.

For the Islamic Republic, the danger is political and strategic. Every Houthi missile that lands inside Saudi Arabia now risks activating a defence pact involving nuclear-armed Pakistan. The regime can deny controlling the Houthis, but Pakistan has already warned it to restrain them.

The Islamic Republic built its proxy network to surround its enemies while avoiding direct consequences. Instead, its Houthi campaign has helped place tens of thousands of Pakistani troops behind Saudi Arabia, exposed those troops to Iranian-supplied weapons and pushed a former mediator toward the opposing military camp.

The proxy was supposed to isolate Saudi Arabia. It is building the coalition that may eventually destroy it.
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Pakistan has deployed up to 40,000 soldiers to Saudi Arabia in order to defend it from missile and drone attacks-Reuters
https://x.com/TheIranWatcher/status/2106113863154368671?s=20