Turkey Signals Readiness to Meet Saudi Defense Needs as Houthi Attacks Test Mecca Pact

Ankara — Turkey says it is prepared to help meet Saudi Arabia’s military needs as Riyadh confronts intensifying missile and drone attacks from Yemen’s Houthi movement, a stance that could put the newly signed Mecca Joint Defense Agreement to its first major test.

Last month, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan signed the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, whose core principle is that an armed attack on any one member is treated as an attack on all three, similar to NATO’s collective defense clause.

In comments to Turkish broadcaster NTV on Saturday, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Saudi Arabia may require military assistance, particularly on technical issues, and that Ankara would have no problem providing it. He did not specify what form that assistance might take.

“We see there are very serious attacks on Saudi Arabia’s territorial integrity, sovereignty,” Fidan said. Turkey, which has NATO’s second-largest military, has condemned the Houthi attacks and called for them to stop immediately.

The comments come as Houthi missile and drone attacks increasingly target Saudi cities, energy infrastructure, and shipping, opening another front in a wider regional conflict that began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran in February. The escalation has raised the stakes for global energy supplies as the Iran-aligned Houthis tighten their grip on the Red Sea, which has been used as an alternative route for Saudi oil exports amid disruption to the Strait of Hormuz.

So what does Turkey’s offer mean in practice, and will the defense pact trigger military involvement by its members?

A satellite image shows the Saudi Arabia East-West pipeline after a strike that hit it on September 11. Credit: Handout/Vantor via Reuters

Nawaf Obaid, a senior research fellow at King’s College London, told Al Jazeera that Saudi Arabia and its allies are assembling a coordinated military response to the recent Houthi attacks, arguing that Riyadh is less isolated than it may appear. “There is a coalition coalescing around the threat on how to properly respond to what the Houthis have been doing,” he said.

Obaid said the response “is coming” and will be “sequenced,” “massive,” and “fused together,” involving land, sea, and air operations. He said countries had already begun moving weapons systems into Saudi Arabia and deploying fighter jets into the Red Sea, identifying Turkey as a key participant and Egypt as a possible partner in a more limited operational role. Al Jazeera could not independently verify those claims.

Not everyone sees the same level of coordination. Mohamad Elmasry, a professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, said Saudi Arabia is “kind of stuck.” Allies are offering some measure of support—logistics, intelligence, weapons—but it does not appear that Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, the United States, or anyone else wants to get directly involved in kinetic military action, he told Al Jazeera.

Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan formally named the arrangement the Mecca Defense Alliance on August 31, after officials meeting in Istanbul agreed to set up a secretariat in Riyadh, initially headed by a Pakistani secretary-general. Fidan said at the time that the alliance was built on respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity, and nonintervention in internal affairs, and remained open to other countries joining.

The trilateral pact was struck as Gulf states grow increasingly concerned about being pulled into the wider U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, which has continued for more than six months since Washington and Israel first struck Iran in February. It also came amid concerns over Israel’s expanding military reach in the Middle East. Israel has bombed several regional countries, including Qatar, since launching its war on Gaza on October 7, 2023.

Pakistan has publicly backed the agreement while stopping short of announcing direct military action. Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, director general of the Pakistan military’s media wing, told the Saudi newspaper Arab News on Thursday that Islamabad stands with Saudi Arabia diplomatically and physically. “I would like to underscore here the word ‘physically,’” Chaudhry said. “We will go to any extent.”

Last week, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said there had been no discussions about launching a military response under the Mecca agreement following Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia. Islamabad nevertheless reiterated its commitment to the agreement, saying it would act when the “time comes” without specifying what circumstances would trigger such action. Pakistan Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said earlier this month that any attack on Saudi Arabia could activate the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement. “We are bound by the terms and conditions of this pact, and … we will honor them in case there is a need,” he said in a September 8 interview.

On the battlefield, Saudi-led coalition forces said Saturday that the Houthis fired a ballistic missile at Riyadh at dawn before it was intercepted and destroyed. “The Houthis also attempted to target civilians and civilian infrastructure in Bisha, Taif, Farasan and Yanbu,” coalition spokesperson Major General Turki al-Maliki wrote on X, adding that the attacks were thwarted by the kingdom’s air defenses.

In Yemen, the armed forces of the Saudi-backed internationally recognized government said their fighters thwarted a Houthi infiltration attempt in the al-Fuliahan sector in southern Marib on Saturday, killing 12 Houthi fighters and injuring others. After capturing the Red Sea port city of Mocha, the Houthis have been advancing on Marib, an oil-rich province still under the control of the Saudi-backed government.

The current escalation marks the most serious fighting involving the Houthis and Saudi-backed forces since a UN-brokered truce halted large-scale hostilities in Yemen in 2022. The Houthis have made territorial gains along Yemen’s Red Sea coast, including around the strategically important Bab al-Mandeb strait, a key route connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden. Its importance has increased while shipping through the Strait of Hormuz remains disrupted.

The group has also stepped up missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia, targeting cities and energy infrastructure.

As the Houthis made military gains, Vice President JD Vance said Monday that Washington was in close contact with Saudi Arabia and had held direct talks with the Houthis.

U.S. President Donald Trump has so far shied away from direct U.S. military action against the Houthis. Last week, Reuters reported, citing sources, that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had sought military assistance from the U.S. president to help fight the Houthis. Trump did not agree to U.S. strikes on the group, but Washington told Riyadh it would provide intelligence-sharing and targeting assistance, the sources added.

The position contrasts with Washington’s own campaign against the Houthis last year, when U.S. forces bombed the group for two months before the two sides agreed to a ceasefire. Still, the Trump administration has continued its broader defense relationship with Riyadh. On Thursday, the State Department approved the possible sale of 48 F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia in a deal valued at $24.3 billion, although the sale still requires congressional approval.

William Lawrence, a former U.S. diplomat and professor of international relations at American University, told Al Jazeera that Washington will likely get involved in the conflict. “I think they will at some point,” he said. “They’ve shown in the past they’re willing to engage on Yemen when it affects their own interests.”

He pointed to the link between the conflicts in the Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb straits and the global economy, as well as U.S. security commitments to Saudi Arabia. Lawrence said there was a growing view in Washington in recent days that the United States “needs to do something” to help protect Saudi Arabia and prevent the Houthis from consolidating their gains. “What form that takes is not clear,” he said.

But Lawrence said Washington was already deeply involved, with about 100 U.S. military advisers in Saudi Arabia and extensive intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance support. “So, it wouldn’t be too much of a ramp-up for the Americans to get further involved,” he said.

For now, Turkey’s offer remains a signal rather than a detailed commitment. Whether the Mecca agreement becomes a platform for collective military action—or remains a political shield—will depend on how far the Houthis push, how Saudi Arabia’s partners interpret their obligations, and whether Washington decides that the Red Sea and the kingdom’s energy infrastructure are interests it cannot leave to allies alone.