Following a recent Houthi attack on Saudi Arabia launched from Yemen, the chiefs of staff of Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan are preparing to hold an urgent military meeting, the Saudi foreign ministry has announced.

The meeting forms part of the joint Mecca defence agreement signed by the three countries.

Because the agreement contains a clause treating an attack on any member of the new pact as an attack on all of them, the Houthi strike on Saudi Arabia could push the three states towards a joint military response.

The announcement followed a high-level trilateral meeting held on Thursday 24 September at Saudi Arabia's permanent mission to the UN in New York, between Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar, and Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.

The ministers strongly condemned the attack targeting the city of Mecca and civilian and economic installations in Saudi Arabia, and affirmed the kingdom's full right under Article 51 of the UN Charter to defend its sovereignty and security.