The Mecca pact between Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey moved from paper to practice this week, as the alliance’s top committee agreed at an emergency meeting in Riyadh on Monday, Oct. 5, 2026, to rapidly deploy Pakistani and Turkish forces to the kingdom after a wave of Houthi missile and drone attacks, Al Jazeera reported.
A joint statement released by Pakistan’s Foreign Office said the committee would move “immediately to the practical implementation of the collective defense commitments.” It did not say how many troops would deploy or what they would do.
What the Mecca pact commits Pakistan and Turkey to
The three governments signed the joint defense agreement in Mecca on Aug. 7, committing each to come to the others’ aid if attacked. Boston Report readers saw Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spotlight the deal last week in our story on the Makkah defense pact with Turkey and Pakistan. Monday’s meeting was the first time it has been activated.
Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif told Geo News from Riyadh that Turkish and Pakistani forces were “playing a supporting role,” including reconnaissance, while Saudi forces conducted the combat. Pakistan’s Information Ministry said operational details were confidential. Ankara has not publicly confirmed any deployment, and analysts noted that under Turkey’s constitution, sending troops abroad requires parliamentary approval; parliament has not yet ratified the pact.
Saudi Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman wrote that the committee agreed to activate “collective deterrence measures” against the attacks “and all those responsible for them,” wording one Gulf analyst told Al Jazeera was deliberately ambiguous.
Houthi strikes on Riyadh and Aden airports
The activation followed Houthi claims that the group hit King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, an Aramco refinery and other targets in the kingdom’s south on Monday evening, CNA reported, citing AFP. Saudi authorities said two airports were hit and at least three people injured. An energy-sector source told AFP an earlier attack had again halted pumping on the East-West pipeline, the kingdom’s key export route to the Red Sea while Iran restricts traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
On Wednesday, Oct. 7, the Houthis fired ballistic missiles and explosive-laden drones at Aden International Airport, Yemen’s Transport Ministry said. One missile landed near the runway minutes before a flight from Cairo was due to land, forcing it to divert to Jeddah, Reuters reported. The Saudi-led coalition separately said it intercepted a ballistic missile aimed at Khamis Mushait.
Fighting near Bab el-Mandeb
On the ground, the Yemeni government’s offensive, which the coalition says is backed by 100 fighter jets, retook the town of Dhubab just north of the Bab el-Mandeb strait, according to Euronews. Reuters said fighting remains concentrated in Dhubab district, with pro-government forces pushing into the hills to its east. The push builds on the campaign described in our report on the Yemen offensive against the Houthis.
Yemeni government forces have said they now aim to retake the capital, Sanaa, held by the Houthis since 2014. UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ spokesman said he was “deeply concerned by the sharp escalation in fighting.”
Iran’s red line and the risk of a wider war
Tehran is watching Pakistan closely. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Iran hoped reports of a Pakistani deployment for war in Yemen were untrue. A Tehran-based analyst told Al Jazeera that a purely defensive Pakistani role could be tolerated, but joining offensive operations against the Houthis would cross an Iranian red line.
Pakistani officials stress the pact is defensive. Analysts expect Islamabad to add specialized units such as air defense, drones and engineers rather than large ground forces, and Turkey’s role to center on intelligence sharing and air-defense resupply. How long that limited role holds may depend on whether Riyadh seeks a short campaign to restore deterrence or backs a longer push on Sanaa.