India, Sept. 30 -- Pakistan will use "whatever means are available" to defend Saudi Arabia against Iran-backed Houthi rebels, the country's defence minister said Tuesday, offering one of Islamabad's clearest indications yet that it could become directly involved in the widening regional conflict.

Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif declined to say whether Pakistani forces had already participated in airstrikes. He said, however, that Pakistan's military capabilities would be available to Saudi Arabia under a new mutual defence pact with Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

"I'm not going into detail, but obviously when I say that we are bound by this arrangement to defend Saudi Arabia, that means whatever means are available at our disposal, the...