News
October 09, 2026
Turkiye, Pakistan Agree to Military Deployment to Saudi Arabia
Riyadh: Turkiye, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have agreed to activate “deterrence measures” under a mutual defense pact and rapidly deploy forces to the Gulf kingdom to counter attacks by Yemen’s Houthis.
The decision was announced on Monday after the three countries’ defense and foreign ministers held an emergency meeting in Riyadh. It marked the first time the alliance – known as the Mecca Alliance for Defense – has been invoked since it was signed on August 7.
The agreement declares that an attack on any of the three nations will be treated as an attack on all, mirroring a central provision of NATO’s founding treaty.
“The committee agreed to activate collective deterrence measures, within the framework of the Alliance, in response to the attacks and all those responsible for them,” Khalid bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s defense minister, said in a social media post.
He said the alliance had “reaffirmed the solidarity and unity of our countries, in confronting the heinous attacks against the Kingdom, and holy sites”.
A separate joint statement published by Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said the three countries would “provide the agreed military forces and capabilities and ensure their rapid deployment” to Saudi Arabia.
The commitments, the joint statement said, would be carried out under “approved arrangements” and in accordance with each country’s laws.
The announcements came hours after forces aligned with Yemen’s internationally recognized government launched a counteroffensive to retake territory the Iran-aligned Houthis captured last month. The Yemeni forces, who are backed by Saudi Arabia, said they have retaken the port city of Mocha on the Red Sea and are now in control of the strategic Bab al-Mandeb strait.
The Saudi-led coalition has confirmed its participation in the Yemeni government offensive, saying 100 of its fighter jets are providing air support.
The Houthis, meanwhile, claimed an attack on the King Khalid International airport in Riyadh and the Aramco refinery in coastal Rabigh.
The group also said it hit a series of sites, including an airport, an airbase and other critical locations.
There was no confirmation from Riyadh on the Houthi claim.
Abdulaziz Alghashian, a senior non-resident fellow at the Gulf International Forum, said the decision to activate the Mecca defense pact will have a major impact on security in the region.
“The Houthi attacks and provocations in recent weeks and months really hastened the Mecca alliance, inspired it, even,” Alghashian told Al Jazeera. They “helped” push forward its structure, he said.
Alghashian said the episode also offered a glimpse of a regional security architecture taking shape.
“A lot of the times we keep talking about regional security architecture, it’s one of these very fancy words,” he said. “A lot of the times, it’s hollow, and not many people know what it means in detail. But I think now, we’re beginning to see how this is fleshed out. It’s a critical juncture in the history of the region.”
According to a report by Abid Hussain , for the first time since it was signed in August, the Mecca pact between Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkiye is now in force.
At an emergency meeting in Riyadh on Monday, the pact’s top committee agreed to deploy Pakistani and Turkish forces to the kingdom, which is backing an offensive against Yemen’s Houthis.
“The Committee decided to move immediately to the practical implementation of the collective defense commitments and to take the necessary measures to provide the agreed military forces and capabilities and ensure their rapid deployment in the Kingdom, in accordance with the approved arrangements and the national legislation of the Parties,” said a joint statement shared by Pakistan’s Foreign Office.
The statement did not specify the size or role of the forces.
Saudi-led coalition spokesperson Major-General Turki al-Malki said 100 fighter jets were supporting a counteroffensive by the internationally recognized Yemeni government to retake territory seized by the Houthis last month.
Hours after the meeting, Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said Pakistani forces were already playing a part. “The forces of Turkiye and Pakistan are playing a supporting role. We are definitely involved in reconnaissance and such things, but the combat is practically being conducted by Saudi Arabia’s own forces, and they are the ones retaking those areas,” Asif told Geo News, speaking from Riyadh on Monday night.
That leaves Pakistan in a defensive role alongside a Saudi offensive. Analysts told Al Jazeera that it raises a question Islamabad has yet to answer publicly: How long can it stay out of the actual fighting?
What is already in place?
Pakistan already had a military presence in Saudi Arabia. It has trained Saudi military personnel since 1967, with a 1982 agreement formalizing the deputation of troops to the kingdom.
A declassified CIA assessment from June 1985 estimated that 13,000 to 14,000 Pakistanis were serving in the Saudi army, including an armored brigade at Tabuk. During the 1990-91 Gulf War, Pakistan also sent a large contingent to the kingdom for defensive duties.
Pakistan also signed the Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement with Saudi Arabia in September 2025 , which treats aggression against either country as aggression against both.
In April, Riyadh confirmed that a Pakistani force , including fighter and support aircraft, had arrived at King Abdulaziz airbase in the Eastern Province.
Pakistan has not disclosed how many of its troops are in Saudi Arabia.
In September, Lieutenant-General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, director-general of the military’s media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), told the Saudi outlet Arab News that Pakistani forces were already deployed to protect the kingdom and its holy sites.
“I would like to underscore here the word ‘physically’,” Chaudhry said. “We will go to any extent.”
ISPR did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment on the deployment agreed upon in Riyadh. - Al Jazeera
Courtesy Al Jazeera
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