Saudi-Pakistan defence pact: A big military promise, but little impact on the ground

The Pakistani government has denied a New York Times report that claims Pakistani forces have struck Houthis in Yemen. The NYT report surfaced in the middle of a drone and missile campaign initiated by Iran backed Houthi rebels based in Yemen, that has targeted the oil rich Arab kingdom. The Houthis have been targeting Saudi oil infrastructure and their actions at the Bab-el-Mandab has had an impact on global energy transit through the narrow waterway. The Pakistanis and the Turks have n ot come to the aid of their treaty partner as it comes under repeated attack from its war torn neighbour to the southwest.The Houthi-Saudi conflict is rooted in Yemen's long struggle for power and the wider rivalry between Riyadh and Tehran. The Zaidi Shiite Houthi movement emerged in northern Yemen in the 1990s and gained strength after seizing the capital, Sanaa, in 2014.