Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan Hold Emergency Defence Pact Talks in Riyadh as Houthi Attacks Mount
Makkah pact committee weighs the Houthi threat and Iran's suggestion of political engagement
3 min read
File photo: The Riyadh skyline with the King Abdullah Financial District and Kingdom Tower, Saudi Arabia (2016). Photo: B.alotaby, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Foreign ministers, defence ministers and military chiefs from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan are meeting in Riyadh on Monday for emergency talks under their new Makkah Joint Defence Agreement, as fighting between Saudi Arabia and Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis intensifies.
The session of the pact's Strategic Political and Defence Committee comes a day after Yemen's Saudi-backed government announced a major military operation to retake territory held by the Houthis, Reuters reported.
Who is at the table
Turkey's foreign ministry said Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Defence Minister Yasar Guler and Chief of General Staff General Selcuk Bayraktaroglu would attend, along with officials from Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. "The meeting will address recent developments in the region and the stage reached in the Alliance's institutionalization efforts," the ministry said.
Pakistan's Foreign Office said its delegation includes Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Chief of Defence Forces Field Marshal Asim Munir and Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, according to Dawn. It said the members would discuss "latest developments in the region and review ongoing cooperation under the framework of the Makkah Agreement," and that Pakistan's participation signified its "resolve to continue contributing towards regional peace and stability."
Houthi attacks on the agenda
Dar said last week the emergency meeting would focus on Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, adding that the kingdom had faced 17 to 18 attacks. He also said Iran had suggested engaging the Houthis politically, an idea the committee would weigh as an alternative to "kinetic action," Reuters reported.
"There is no written, solid offer. It is brainstorming between two foreign ministers," Dar said.
Over the weekend, the Houthis said Saudi Arabia had launched dozens of strikes on Sanaa, after which they said they attacked an Aramco facility south of Riyadh with ballistic missiles and drones. The Saudi-led coalition has called Houthi claims about attacks on Riyadh misleading.
A young alliance faces its first test
The pact was signed in Makkah on August 7 by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. It commits the three states to treat an attack on one as an attack on all.
At the committee's first meeting in Istanbul on August 31, the members agreed to set up a secretariat in Saudi Arabia, initially headed by a Pakistani secretary-general for three years, according to a joint statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency.
The Yemen front has opened another theatre in the wider war that began on February 28 with US and Israeli strikes on Iran. Dar said the committee would meet again as planned at the end of October or early November.
