Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan activate Mecca Pact amid war with Houthis - Middle East Eye

Turkey and Pakistan said they will undertake a "rapid deployment" of troops to Saudi Arabia as part of their new mutual defence alliance, the Mecca Pact, in a move that could deepen the Houthis' isolation in the region. 

The announcement on Monday came after representatives of the three countries held an emergency meeting in Riyadh where they condemned recent attacks on Saudi Arabia, in particular those targeting the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, without mentioning the Houthis by name.

The trio "reaffirmed their unequivocal rejection of any attack or threat against the Kingdom's security and territorial integrity", they said in a joint statement.

They also agreed "to move immediately to the practical implementation of the collective defence commitments and to take the necessary measures to provide the agreed military forces and capabilities and ensure their rapid deployment in the Kingdom".

The meeting came as Yemeni government forces backed by Saudi Arabia launched a large-scale offensive whose mission the government said is to retake all the territory the Houthis conquered in 12 years of war. 

It's unclear what immediate tactical impact Pakistan and Turkey's deployment to Saudi Arabia will have on the war.

Pakistan already has tens of thousands of troops in the kingdom. Reuters reported last week that Pakistan sent four plane loads of weapons to the port city of Aden to support the Saudi-backed government.

A western official in the Gulf told Middle East Eye that Pakistani personnel are already deployed in southern Yemen, although it's not clear if they are there as part of the Saudi military on contract or the Pakistani military. 

But the timing of the announcement, with the offensive against the Houthis underway, carries deep symbolic weight. 

A separate western official in the Gulf told MEE that Riyadh wanted to ensure it had "international buy-in" to launch a counter-offensive against the Houthis. 

Pakistan is the Muslim world's only nuclear-armed state. It has also served as a mediator between Iran and the US, trying to pitch itself as an honest broker.

Turkey is a Nato member that has positioned itself as a rival to Israel, which is unpopular in the Arab and Muslim world because of its war on Gaza, which the United Nations and human rights experts have called a genocide.

By invoking the Mecca Pact, Saudi Arabia is able to underscore that it has the support of the wider region in its counter-offensive against the Houthis.

Last week, Saudi Arabia also hosted UAE Vice President Mansour bin Zayed, in a bid to show unity against the Houthis. 

Also on Monday, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman hosted Democratic Senator Chris Murphy for a two-hour conversation, the US politician said. 

Murphy was one of the sharpest critics of the war in Yemen before a 2022 UN-backed ceasefire was reached. That agreement collapsed in July after the Houthis began attacking Saudi vessels in the Red Sea. Two months later, the Houthis launched an offensive down the Red Sea coast. 

Yemeni forces backed by Saudi Arabia said on Monday that they had retaken most of the coastal territory the Houthis conquered.