Military leaders of three countries discuss support for Riyadh — Dawn

Military leaders of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey held talks on possible ways to support Riyadh under the Makkah Defense Alliance. Dawn reports on the meeting of the three armed forces representatives. Turkey’s Ministry of Defense released photographs of the talks but did not disclose the location where they were held.

The photographs distributed by the Turkish defense ministry show Turkey’s Chief of the General Staff Selçuk Bayraktaroğlu, Commander of Pakistan’s Defense Forces and Army Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, and Saudi Arabia’s Chief of the General Staff General Fayyadh bin Hamed Al-Ruwaili. Earlier, Turkey’s Defense Ministry had said that Bayraktaroğlu would travel to Saudi Arabia for the meeting.

Makkah defense agreement

According to Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry, the trilateral agreement was signed on August 7. It provides that an attack on any of the parties must be regarded as an attack on all participants.

Before the military leaders’ talks, the foreign ministers of the three countries discussed the defense agreement on the sidelines of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly in New York. They condemned attacks on Mecca, as well as on Saudi Arabia’s civilian and economic facilities, and reaffirmed the kingdom’s right to take measures to protect its security in accordance with Article 51 of the UN Charter.

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The ministers also reviewed progress in establishing a general secretariat, committees and working groups under the agreement. The alliance’s founding meeting took place in Istanbul on August 31. Pakistan was chosen to lead the secretariat in Riyadh, while retired Lieutenant General Nauman Mahmood was appointed as the first secretary-general.

Tensions around the kingdom

The talks took place amid a new escalation between Yemen’s Houthis and the Yemeni government. According to the outlet, the Houthis declared a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia, attacked its vessels in the Red Sea and have struck the kingdom’s territory in recent weeks.

A day before the meeting, Saudi Arabia reported intercepting six ballistic missiles launched by the Houthis. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also said that his country would support Saudi Arabia in defending its sovereignty and security.