Türkiye and Pakistan have agreed to rapidly deploy military forces and capabilities to Saudi Arabia amid an escalating war between Saudi and the Houthi Ansarallah group in Yemen, risking the two Muslim powers being dragged into Riyadh’s forever war in the war stricken Arab country.
The three countries also agreed to take measures to ensure the rapid deployment of agreed military forces and capabilities to Saudi Arabia, following an emergency meeting of the alliance’s Strategic Political and Defence Committee in Riyadh on Monday honouring what the groups says is their “collective defence commitments” under the newly formed Mecca Defence Alliance.
The meeting was convened to discuss security developments and threats facing Saudi amid escalating fighting involving Yemen and attacks on Saudi territory by the army led from the Yemeni capital Sanaa.
A joint statement issued following the meeting said the committee had decided to move “immediately to the practical implementation of the collective defence commitments.” It also agreed to take the necessary measures to provide the agreed military forces and capabilities and ensure their “rapid deployment” within the Kingdom.
The deployment will take place according to approved arrangements and the national legislation of the three countries, with the stated aim of strengthening military readiness, integration and their collective ability to confront threats.
“Unequivocal rejection” of attacks against Saudi
The three countries strongly condemned what they described as the attempted targeting of the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina, as well as continuing attacks against other Saudi cities and civilian and economic facilities.
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They reaffirmed their “unequivocal rejection of any attack or threat” against Saudi Arabia’s security and territorial integrity.
Türkiye and Pakistan also praised the “vigilance and readiness” of the Saudi Armed Forces and their professionalism in responding to threats and attacks against the Kingdom.
The committee said the Mecca Defence Alliance represented a “firm commitment to collective defence and a unified position in confronting threats.”
The committee also appointed Pakistan’s retired Lieutenant General Nauman Mahmood as the alliance’s first secretary-general for a three-year term. The three member states welcomed his appointment and expressed confidence that he would help advance the alliance and achieve its objectives.
The Houthi Ansarallah group has claimed credt for various attacks targeting key oil and military infrastructure inside Saudi over the past few weeks, however, the armed group – which controls much of the north – has rejected the Saudi claim that it attempted to attack Islam’s holiest sites.
Waging war with Yemen while Gaza burns
The Mecca Joint Defence Agreement was signed in Mecca on August 7 by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
The agreement states that an armed attack against any one of the three countries would be considered an attack against all three, establishing the framework for collective security cooperation.
The alliance has previously been described by Pakistan’s military as a defensive pact intended for collective deterrence, rather than an alliance with wider regional ambitions.
The purpose of the new alliance, which has been described by some as the beginning of a possible “Islamic NATO”, was to encourage greater regional stability and security.
However, this latest development risks dragging two major non-Arab regional powers into a lengthy and complicated conflict which has caused sizeable problems for Riyadh for close to a decade.
Saudi Arabia has been stuck in a conflict in Yemen because what began as a Yemeni civil war became intertwined with a wider regional power struggle.
The Houthis, an Iran-aligned group, seized Sanaa in 2014–15 and forced the internationally recognised government into exile. Saudi Arabia feared losing influence over the country and intervened militarily in 2015.
The Saudi-led intervention failed to decisively defeat the Houthis, who retained control of much of northern Yemen and developed increasingly capable missile and drone capabilities. Although major fighting eased after the 2022 UN-brokered truce, no comprehensive political settlement was reached, leaving Saudi Arabia facing the difficult task of securing its border and negotiating with a powerful adversary it has been unable to eliminate militarily.
Onlookers had expressed initial hope that the new Mecca Defence Alliance might be an early step towards the Islamic world becoming more united in the face of non-Muslim threats such as Israel or Western domination of the region. However, many will likely be left disappointed by this development, with the bloc seemingly determined to fight a seemingly endless war against fellow Muslim-majority Yemen while failing to take any meaningful action against Israel for the sake of Palestinians in Gaza.
Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a member of Ansarallah’s political bureau and governor of Dhamar, Yemen, recently issued a stark warning during an interview with an Iraqi TV channel.
“By God, if Türkiye and Pakistan become involved, we will strike them with an iron fist.” The Express Tribune
