By Saeed Shah and Maha El Dahan

ISLAMABAD/DUBAI – With many Arab nations feeling a rising threat from Israel, the Saudi-Pakistan defense pact announced this week brings Pakistan – and its nuclear umbrella – into the region’s security equation.

The “Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement” signed between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia on Wednesday effectively marries Riyadh’s money with Pakistan’s giant nuclear-armed military, analysts said.

Few details of the pact have been disclosed, and Pakistan’s stated nuclear doctrine says that its weapons are solely aimed against long-term adversary India.

But Riyadh is hinting that it will have a de facto nuclear shield under the agreement, while analysts say that Israel, widely understood to be the only nuclear state in the Middle East, will be watching

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