Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye plan urgent meeting of military chiefs under Makkah defence pact

The foreign ministers of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye have agreed to convene an urgent meeting of their countries’ military chiefs to discuss ways of supporting Riyadh under the Makkah Defence Alliance, following a series of Houthi missile attacks on the kingdom, Pakistan’s Foreign Office said on Friday.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan discussed the defence pact on the sidelines of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly in New York.

An attack on one is an attack on all

The three-way agreement, signed on August 7, treats an attack on any one member as an attack on all of them, the core commitment that gives the alliance its significance.

The Saudi Foreign Ministry said the three countries condemned the recent Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia and discussed arrangements for an “urgent meeting of the chiefs of staff”, which took place in Riyadh days later. Türkiye’s Defence Ministry later announced that its Chief of General Staff, General Selçuk Bayraktaroğlu, would travel to Saudi Arabia to meet his Saudi and Pakistani counterparts under the agreement.

According to the Foreign Office, the ministers condemned “in the strongest terms” attacks targeting the holy city of Makkah and civilian and economic facilities in the kingdom. They praised the Saudi armed forces for their vigilance and reaffirmed Saudi Arabia’s right to take the measures it considers necessary to defend itself under Article 51 of the UN Charter, which recognises the right of self-defence.

The ministers also stressed respect for international law, good neighbourliness, the sovereignty of states and freedom of navigation, and said they would work together to support de-escalation and peaceful solutions to the region’s crises.

Building the alliance’s institutions

The meeting also reviewed progress on setting up the alliance’s permanent machinery: its general secretariat, committees and working groups. In a post on X, Dar said the three ministers had taken stock of how far the alliance’s institutions had come and discussed the wider regional and global security picture.

The alliance held its inaugural meeting in Istanbul on August 31, where Pakistan was chosen to head the secretariat in Riyadh. Retired Lieutenant General Nauman Mahmood has been appointed its first secretary general.

The Houthi threat

The New York talks came as Saudi Arabia has been drawn into renewed fighting between Yemen’s Houthi rebels and the Yemeni government. The Houthis have declared a maritime blockade on the kingdom, targeted its shipping in the Red Sea and, in recent weeks, carried out attacks inside Saudi Arabia.

A day before the ministers met, Saudi forces intercepted six ballistic missiles fired by the Houthis after warnings were issued for several regions, including Makkah, the second such warning for the holy city in two weeks. Saudi Arabia’s King Salman, in a rare statement, described the Houthis as a “terrorist militia” and called the attempt to target Makkah a provocation to Muslims around the world.

Pakistan’s commitment

Pakistan has made its position clear. On September 18, the Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations, Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, said Pakistan would go to “any extent” to defend Saudi Arabia and described Islamabad’s commitment to the kingdom’s security as unconditional. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also pledged to stand “shoulder to shoulder” with Saudi Arabia.

Why it matters

The Makkah Defence Alliance is one of the most significant security arrangements in the region in years, binding a nuclear-armed South Asian state, NATO member Türkiye and the Gulf’s largest economy into a mutual defence pact. How the three countries respond to the Houthi attacks will be the first real test of what the agreement means in practice, and of how far Pakistan’s security commitments now extend beyond its own borders.

Reporting draws on statements from Pakistan’s Foreign Office and the Saudi and Turkish governments, as reported by Dawn and Reuters.