Saudi, Pakistani and Turkish Military Chiefs Meet in Riyadh on Joint Defence Pact

The military chiefs of Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey met in Riyadh on September 25 to discuss closer coordination under the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement. The meeting followed talks among the three foreign ministers in New York about support for Saudi Arabia amid Houthi attacks. Accounts of the meeting say the chiefs discussed intelligence sharing and military cooperation; the public reporting reviewed does not establish that a new collective-defence mechanism was formally activated at this meeting.

Why it matters: The August pact commits the three countries to treat an attack on one as an attack on all. The chiefs' meeting shows continued work on putting that commitment into practice, but operational plans and any new commitments need confirmation from the governments themselves.

Sources

Sources: Kuwait Times report on the chiefs' meeting and Saudi statement: kuwaittimes.com ; Reuters on the foreign ministers' September 22 statement: reuters.com ; AP on the August pact: apnews.com