The ongoing war between Yemen's internationally recognized Saudi-backed government and Iran-backed Houthi rebels has resumed.
Even Saudi Arabia has activated the Mecca Defense Agreement with Pakistan and Türkiye.
The Houthis are officially known as Ansar Allah (Supporters of Allah). These people belong to a tribe coming from the north-western Saada province of Yemen.
The Houthis are followers of the Zaidi branch of Shia Islam, which makes up about one-third of Yemen's total population.
The Houthi organization emerged after the unification of northern and southern Yemen in the 1990s. He organized many rebellions against the government. The Houthis' capture of Sanaa in 2014 gave rise to a civil war, which still divides the country.
The Houthis are anti-West and anti-Israel and have been designated a terrorist organization by the US and the European Union.
With this, Pakistan has also joined this fight.
Pakistan is a Sunni majority Islamic country. It had close defense and strategic relations with Saudi Arabia even before the Mecca Agreement. Pakistan is probably considered one of the most militarily capable countries among Muslim countries.
Pakistan is a nuclear power and an important military power. Pakistan presents its strength as a competition to India. Pakistan is also an important country that provides army training and weapons to the armed forces of Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, has been a major source of financial assistance for the economically weak Pakistani government.
Recently, Saudi Arabia has given financial assistance and investment of eight billion dollars to Pakistan, which has proved to be very important for it.
Apart from being a defense partner, Pakistan is almost completely dependent on Saudi Arabia economically and geo-politically.
In 1990, Pakistan agreed to join an international military force to defend Saudi Arabia from Iraqi invasion. At that time Pakistani soldiers protected the holy places of Saudi Arabia.
Despite all this, in April 2015, the Pakistani Parliament also rejected the proposal to join the Saudi-led coalition fighting against Yemen's Houthi rebels.
Pakistan's decision then dealt a blow to Saudi's efforts to create a broad Sunni front against the Iran-backed rebels.
Pakistani MPs had said, "Pakistan should remain neutral in the Yemen conflict, so that it can play an active diplomatic role to end the crisis."
But this time Pakistan has agreed to send its army to Saudi Arabia to fight the Houthi rebels under the Mecca Agreement.
What will be the impact if Pakistan fights face to face with Houthi rebels?
This is being seen as a very complex situation for Pakistan. Saudi has a long war with the Houthis. If Pakistan gets involved in this then it will also have to go into this long war.
Pakistan has to deal with tensions with India, skirmishes on the border with Afghanistan and attacks by armed groups inside the country.
Tughral Yamin, a retired brigadier and senior associate at Islamabad's Institute of Policy Studies, told Al Jazeera that the limits of the agreement apply to both sides.
He said, "It will be difficult to send troops, because Pakistan's army is already under a lot of pressure on the ground due to external and internal threats. It is also a matter of speculation whether Turkey would be willing to divert some part of its army from other countries to send troops to Saudi Arabia. Turkey has its commitments to NATO and its border with Syria is also not completely secure."
The Houthis are supported by Iran while Pakistan has reasons to maintain its relations with Tehran.
According to Reuters report, Pakistan is also dependent on oil and gas supplies whose routes can be blocked by Iran and Houthi. These also include the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea. Therefore, entering into a fight against the Houthis will create diplomatic and economic risks beyond the battlefield.
This will not automatically mean that Pakistan will go to war with Iran, but it will make it more difficult for Pakistan to maintain the balance between the two sides.
Ayesha Siddiqa, a defense analyst and senior fellow at King's College London, told British news website The Guardian, "I don't think Asim Munir had properly assessed the risks and did not think that Pakistan might need to deploy its troops so quickly."
Saudi Arabia has a huge stockpile of fighter planes and war weapons, worth several billion dollars, but it does not have the war experience to fight the Houthis. The Houthis have proven themselves to be strong fighters in difficult circumstances.
Pakistani officials are also worried that the country might be dragged into the endless war in the Middle East. Pakistan's economy is already badly weakened, it is in a virtual war with the Taliban in Afghanistan and is facing the problem of growing insurgency in its border areas, which is becoming difficult to control.
Siddiqa says, "Pakistan's involvement in the fight against the Houthis would have serious consequences." After Iran, Pakistan has the second largest Shia Muslim population in the world. In such a situation, there is a possibility of demonstrations there against Pakistan's involvement in the attacks against Houthis.
Muhammad Aamir Rana, director of the Islamabad-based Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies, told The Guardian, "Pakistan will try its best to avoid getting involved in any military operation on Yemeni soil."
American media outlet Bloomberg wrote in one of its reports, "For Saudi Arabia, defeating the Houthis would mean eliminating a long-standing enemy." The Houthi attacks are in danger of damaging the economic ambitions of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. He wants to attract billions of dollars of foreign investment in projects ranging from data centers to electric vehicle manufacturing.
“For other countries, the defeat of the Houthis would eliminate a major threat to shipping in the Red Sea. The Houthis have affected maritime traffic in the Red Sea for years. When the Houthis first began attacking ships there in 2023, they said it was in response to Israel's military campaign in Gaza following the October 7 Hamas attacks. Initially the group had said that its targets were only ships belonging to Israel. But such ships also came under attack, which had no direct connection with Israel.
“The sea route through the Suez Canal, the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb is the most convenient route for ships traveling between Europe and Asia. But to avoid the Red Sea completely, many shipping companies are now sending their ships via the southern tip of Africa. This is an expensive alternative route, which is thousands of miles long and can add up to two weeks to the journey.
A Pakistani official told the British newspaper Financial Times on September 18 last month, "Iran says that this is a dispute between Saudi Arabia and Yemen. But it also seems that increasing tension is in line with Iran's policy in the region."
"Yemen's Houthis, among the most influential members of Iran's "axis of resistance", are less ideologically aligned with the Iranian regime than other Tehran-backed militias and have primarily pursued their domestic agenda," the FT reported. Iranian officials insist the Houthis are acting independently, but their military campaign supports Tehran's goal of driving up global energy prices.
FT wrote in its report, "A person with knowledge of Pakistan's talks with Iran said that Islamabad is in a difficult situation. In April, Pakistan had deployed fighter planes and Air Force personnel at an airbase in eastern Saudi Arabia.
Analysts say that in 2015, Pakistan had refused to join the Saudi-led air strikes in Yemen, but it found it difficult to resist Riyadh's request this time due to its commitments under the Mecca Agreement and serious financial weaknesses.
Omar Karim, a research fellow at the University of Birmingham who studies Saudi-Pakistan relations, believes that any assistance from Pakistan will come only after Riyadh decides whether it wants to engage in a "full-scale war in Yemen" or conduct a limited campaign.
"A large-scale war would mean that Saudi infrastructure would be exposed to attacks on a much larger scale. If Saudi asks for Pakistan's help, Pakistan could join the air campaign to protect Saudi Arabia from drone attacks or target targets in Yemen that launch attacks," Karim told the FT.
The Houthis fought a years-long war with Saudi Arabia, which intervened in Yemen while leading the Arab Coalition against the rebels. There was a ceasefire between the two sides in 2022. But the rebels broke the deal in July and announced they were blockading Saudi Arabian ports and attacking Saudi oil tankers.
