Pakistan rejects NYT claim its fighter jets are striking Yemen's Houthis

Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has dismissed a New York Times report claiming Pakistan Air Force fighter jets are being used against Yemen’s Houthis as “fake and fabricated” (Dawn).

In an X post on Thursday, the ministry rejected the NYT story, published on 7 October, which cited an unnamed Pakistani official as saying PAF aircraft were being employed against the Iran-backed group amid its escalating conflict with Saudi Arabia (Türkiye Today).

“International media houses are again asked to avoid speculative reporting with regards to employment of Pakistan’s military forces under the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement,” the ministry said, adding that details of any deployment “will be given by the authorities concerned” (Dawn).

Earlier this week, the ministry also called a Reuters report claiming 30,000 to 40,000 Pakistani troops were being deployed in Saudi Arabia “speculative” (Dawn).

The denial follows Monday’s emergency meeting in Riyadh, where Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye — signatories to the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement signed on 7 August — agreed to deploy forces to the kingdom rapidly. A joint statement after the meeting condemned the attempted targeting of Mecca and Medina (Al Jazeera).

Türkiye has also stressed the pact is defensive. Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Thursday that “this is not an attack agreement” and that Ankara would not send troops to attack another country (Türkiye Today).