Saudi, Turkish and Pakistani Military Chiefs to Meet Urgently Under the Mecca Defence Pact

Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Pakistan announced on Thursday, September 24, 2026, that their army chiefs of staff will hold an urgent meeting to discuss ways to support Saudi Arabia under the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement. According to the Saudi Press Agency, the announcement followed a meeting of the three countries' foreign ministers in New York; no date or form of support has been announced.

The pact was signed on August 7, 2026, and treats an attack on any one of the three countries as an attack on all of them. The move follows fresh Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia; Riyadh said on Thursday it had intercepted six ballistic missiles fired towards Taif and Yanbu. Tension in the Red Sea and around the Bab al-Mandeb strait has been one of the factors driving global oil prices in recent days.