ISTANBUL
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday signed a strategic mutual defense agreement between the two countries.
The signing took place during their meeting in the Saudi capital Riyadh, the state news agency SPA said, citing a joint statement.
“This agreement, which reflects the shared commitment of both nations to enhance their security and to achieving security and peace in the region and the world, aims to develop aspects of defense cooperation between the two countries and strengthen joint deterrence against any aggression,” the statement said.
The agreement states that “any aggression against either country shall be considered an aggression against both.”
The Pakistani premier arrived in Riyadh early Wednesday for a visit of unspecified duration.
The pact between Saudi Arabia and nuclear-armed Pakistan comes a week after an Israeli strike on the Qatari capital, killing five Hamas members and a Qatari officer.
The attack came even as Doha, together with Egypt and the US, was mediating indirect talks between Hamas and Israel for a Gaza ceasefire and prisoner exchange.
By hitting Qatar, Israel widened a campaign that has already included attacks on Iran in June, near-daily strikes in Lebanon and Syria, and a two-year-long genocidal war in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Israel has already killed more than 65,000 Palestinians in Gaza, most of them women and children, since October 2023. The relentless bombardment has rendered the enclave uninhabitable, and led to starvation and the spread of diseases.