Mecca Pact to rapidly deploy military forces in Saudi Arabia

The Mecca Defense Alliance announced Monday evening that it is moving immediately to implement its mutual defense commitments, taking steps to deploy military forces and assets rapidly to Saudi Arabia. The deployment follows an emergency meeting of the alliance’s political strategy committee in Riyadh, where officials from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey gathered to address security developments and escalating threats facing the Kingdom.

Signed by the three nations in August, the Mecca Defense Pact stipulates that an armed attack against any member constitutes an attack on all three.

In its statement, the committee noted that the deployment aligns with approved arrangements and the national legislation of member states to enhance readiness, military integration, and collective capacity to confront threats.

Meeting participants condemned “the attempted targeting of Mecca and Medina, as well as the continuing attacks targeting cities and civilian and economic facilities in the Kingdom,” emphasizing that the security of each member state “is an integral part of the collective security of the three countries.”

The alliance’s decision comes as Yemen’s Ansar Allah (Houthi) group claimed to have carried out three military operations using ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones targeting facilities in Saudi Arabia.

The group stated that it struck Aramco’s refinery in Rabigh governorate, located in the Mecca region on the Red Sea coast, Khamis Mushait base, Awaqfa camp in Asir, and locations in Najran and Jazan, in addition to targeting King Khalid Airport in Riyadh and Abha Airport.

Ansar Allah affirmed that the hit on King Khalid Airport “was precise and direct,” leading to the disruption of air navigation there, while fires broke out at the targeted site in the Aramco refinery.

Meanwhile, the Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation announced that the Monday evening attacks on King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Jazan and Najran International Airport injured three people and caused material damage.

According to yesterday’s Ansar Allah statement, the Saudi air force carried out about 60 air and missile strikes within 24 hours across Sanaa, Al-Jawf, Taiz, Hajjah, Saada, and Marib governorates, causing deaths and injuries. The group noted that this brings the total number of Saudi strikes since the escalation began to 1,576.

The official spokesperson for the Coalition to Support Legitimacy in Yemen, Turki Al-Maliki, announced the destruction of a ballistic missile launcher in the capital, Sanaa, and a missile warehouse at a mountainous site in Saada containing 20 ballistic missiles.

Coalition naval forces also carried out a military operation in Hodeidah governorate, targeting Houthi military positions, destroying weapons depots, explosive-laden boat storage facilities and naval mines to thwart imminent threats against Red Sea shipping lanes.

On the ground in Yemen, the Saudi-backed government said its forces made rapid gains Monday in a push to retake the Bab Al-Mandeb coastline, reaching the city of Mocha and driving the Houthis from most of the territory they captured last month.

Battles have been raging on several fronts in Yemen for weeks following the renewal of the civil war, and Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council President Rashad Al-Alimi pledged Sunday to continue fighting “until the country is liberated from the grip of the terrorist militia.”

The renewed fighting exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in Yemen. The UN’s International Organization for Migration reported on Monday that approximately 184,000 people have been displaced since the conflict reignited.