Pakistan To Deploy A Brigade of Combat Troops To Saudi Arabia's Southern Border With yemen

Pakistan's chief of army staff, Qamar Javed Bajwa, met Saudi Arabia's king in December (Twitter)

The National: Pakistan in talks with Saudi Arabia to send combat troops to protect the kingdom

Pakistan is in discussions with Saudi Arabia to send combat troops to protect the kingdom amid growing concern over threats from ISIL militants and Houthi rebels.

Plans are under way to dispatch a brigade-sized deployment following a request from Riyadh, which wants the troops as an emergency response force. A brigade is usually made up of between 1,500 and 3,500 troops.

Islamabad and Saudi Arabia have long had a close military and security relationship, with troops from Pakistan's large and combat-hardened army regularly deployed for training Saudi soldiers. Although the kingdom, like other Arab Gulf countries, does not make the numbers public, experts say there are as many as 70,000 Pakistanis serving across the Saudi military services at any one time.

But requests for Pakistani combat brigades have usually only been made during times of heightened tensions in the kingdom.

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WNU Editor: This deployment will be a message to Iran .... Pakistan force is a warning to Tehran (The National editorial).

More News On Reports That Pakistan Is To Deploy A Combat Brigade To Saudi Arabia

EXCLUSIVE: Pakistan sends combat troops to southern Saudi border -- Middle East Eye
Pakistan sends combat troops to Saudi southern border to counter Houthis -- Daily Pakistan
Pakistani troops to guard Saudi borders against Houthi attacks -- The Nation
Pakistan to deploy army brigade in Saudi Arabia: Reports -- Hindustan Times
How Pakistan’s military offers the Gulf much more than boots on the ground -- Taimur Khan, The National