Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan discuss activating Mecca agreement against Houthi attacks

Foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Pakistan discussed activating the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement at a meeting in New York on Friday, as Houthi attacks target Saudi Arabia and Iran seeks to distance itself from the advances of its allies in Yemen.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan met his Pakistani counterpart Mohammad Ishaq Dar and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan at the Kingdom’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations, where the ministers reviewed progress in establishing the secretariat, committees and working groups under the Mecca Agreement, as well as preparations for them to begin work.

According to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), the meeting also discussed arrangements for an urgent meeting of the three countries’ chiefs of staff to consider ways to support Saudi Arabia under the Mecca Agreement, which states that an attack on any one of its parties is considered an attack on all parties.

In a joint position, the ministers strongly condemned attacks targeting Mecca and civilian and economic facilities in Saudi Arabia. They praised the Saudi armed forces’ ability to defend the country’s security and affirmed its right to take any measures it deems appropriate to protect its security, based on Article 51 of the UN Charter.

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