October 7, 2026
Attention turns to the Saudi capital, Riyadh, on Monday, where it was decided to hold a high-level emergency meeting that brings together Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Turkey, within the framework of the “Mecca Joint Defense Agreement,” to discuss the repercussions of the regional escalation and the ongoing Houthi attacks on Saudi territory, and to review the options available between the military and political paths to deal with the crisis.
In this context, the Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that a high-level delegation including Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar, Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif, and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir, will head to Saudi Arabia to participate in the meetings of the strategic political and defense committee emanating from the agreement.
The Pakistani Foreign Ministry statement stated that the meeting will witness the participation of high-level officials from the three countries, to discuss the latest regional developments and mechanisms for enhancing joint cooperation within the umbrella of the “Mecca Agreement.”
Pakistani Foreign Minister, Muhammad Ishaq Dar, said last Friday that the emergency meeting would focus on Houthi attacks and ways to deter them, in addition to reviewing areas of tripartite cooperation. Dar indicated that the discussions will also address an Iranian proposal for political engagement with the Houthis as an alternative to the military option, indicating that the idea is still in the preliminary consultation stage and has not yet risen to become an official written offer.
On the other hand, “Dar” revealed that the “Mecca Joint Defense Agreement” received interest from more than 6 countries that expressed their desire to join it. Stressing at the same time that consideration of any new membership applications is postponed until the full activation of the agreement is completed, a process that may take about a year.
It should be noted that the “Mecca Joint Defense Agreement” was signed on the seventh of last August between Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Turkey, and stipulated that any attack against any of the three parties would be considered a collective attack. The chiefs of staff of the armies of the three countries previously held a meeting in Riyadh on the twenty-fifth of last September, in which they explicitly condemned the Houthi attacks.
This upcoming meeting comes at a very sensitive time regionally, in light of the escalation of confrontations and increasing security pressures related to the Houthi attacks, which puts the mechanisms of the “Mecca Agreement” before its first real practical test, less than two months after its conclusion.
