With Middle East Still at War, Three Regional Powers Ink a New Alliance
The agreement is aimed at collective deterrence and deeper defense cooperation as regional tensions rise, with Pakistan saying an attack on one member would be treated as an attack on all.
- On Friday, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif signed the "Mecca Joint Defense Agreement," intended to "strengthen collective deterrence against any act of aggression."
- Seeking a "layered deterrence approach" to regional threats, the states formed an "elastic defense pact" to stabilize the region, leveraging Turkey and Pakistan's existing relations with Iran and the US.
- "The three countries complement each other unusually well," security lecturer Andreas Krieg said, citing Turkey's industrial capacity and Pakistan's nuclear deterrent. The alliance functions on the principle that an attack on one member constitutes an attack on all.
- While Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted that Muslims can "face every challenge by malicious outsiders head-on," analysts warn the pact poses challenges for Israel and pushes normalization with Riyadh further out of reach.
- Describing the pact as an attempt to build a "third pole," Khalid al-Jaber of the Doha-based Middle East Council on Global Affairs noted it aims to prevent hegemony by denying either Israel or Iran monopoly over regional order.
44 Articles
44 Articles
The Mecca Agreement, which brings together Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan in a joint defense commitment, attracted attention when it was signed at a time when the war with Iran had reduced trust in the US among Gulf countries. While experts pointed out that the joint defense commitment risked drawing Turkey into regional conflicts, attention turned to why Egypt did not join the agreement.
Answer Mecca with an alliance
Israel should not fear this pact. Israel should answer it. By Gregg Roman, Middle East Forum Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan signed a mutual defense pact in Mecca on August 7. Commentators call it an Islamic NATO, but it is not. It is a message dressed as a military alliance. But messages invite answers, and this one hands Israel the strongest case in years for a rival security architecture running from India through the Gulf to the Eastern M…
In the volatile context of the war between Iran and Israel, the defence agreement signed on Friday, August 7, between these three regional powers offers them an additional guarantee of protection, while that of the United States appears uncertain.
The Houthis could be first big test for Mecca mutual defense pact
When Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan signed their joint defense agreement in Mecca on August 7, the alliance’s first test was already taking shape.A day before the signing, Saudi Arabia was preparing for the possibility of attacks by the Houthis in Yemen alongside threats from Iran-linked groups in Iraq, amid concerns that energy facilities, ports, and airports could be targeted.The new pact establishes a striking principle: an armed attack o…
By promising to consider any attack on one of them as an attack against the three, Turkey, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have given their defence agreement signed in Mecca the appearance of a military alliance. But their priority threats only coincide in part. More than a "Muslim NATO" directed against a clearly designated adversary, this agreement constitutes an instrument of deterrence, strategic autonomy and negotiation — particularly in the face…
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