Senior officials from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye are meeting in Riyadh today for the Strategic Political and Defence Committee of the Makkah Defence Alliance, the first meeting of its kind called in response to a security crisis since the pact was signed two months ago. The session was announced at short notice after a series of Houthi missile and drone attacks on Saudi territory. It is expected to review the regional security situation and advance the formal establishment of the alliance. Pakistan’s delegation is led by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and includes Defence Minister Khawaja Asif and Chief of Defence Forces Field Marshal Asim Munir. No joint statement had been issued at the time of writing.

The Makkah Joint Defence Agreement was signed on August 7, 2026, as a trilateral defensive security framework. Its central clause says an armed attack on any one of the three members will be treated as an attack on all three, and the text is framed in line with the UN Charter. The pact builds on the Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement that Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed in 2025. The committee meeting today is made up of three representatives from each country: the foreign minister, the defence minister and the chief of general staff. Türkiye is sending Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Defence Minister Yasar Guler and Chief of General Staff General Selcuk Bayraktaroglu, while Saudi Arabia is sending its counterparts. The committee held its first meeting in Istanbul on August 31, and the alliance’s secretariat is initially headed by Pakistan for three years, with retired Lieutenant General Nauman Mahmood as secretary general.

The urgency comes from the Houthi movement in Yemen. Pakistan Today reports that the group has carried out about 17 to 18 attacks on Saudi Arabia using missiles and drones. Targets have included airports, energy infrastructure, strategic facilities and commercial vessels in the Red Sea, and Saudi air defences have intercepted many of the projectiles. Reporting around the pact has also cited drone strikes on Makkah and missile and drone attacks on southern cities including Abha, Khamis Mushait, Jazan and Najran, which reportedly injured 73 people and damaged energy facilities. A more recent attack on a power distribution station in Madinah added to the alarm. Dar said the meeting would assess the “ground reality” in Saudi Arabia, particularly attacks on civilian and economic infrastructure.

The meeting follows a quick run of contacts between the three capitals. Their foreign ministers met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on September 24, and a day later their army chiefs met in Riyadh to discuss threats to Saudi Arabia, intelligence sharing and defence coordination. Saudi Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman told Munir during that visit that joint efforts to confront the attacks would continue in line with the agreement, and he described the strikes on Makkah and on civilian and economic facilities as “sinful attacks”. Dar then announced on October 2 that the full committee would meet in Riyadh. Pakistan’s foreign minister has stressed that Islamabad is committed to defending Saudi Arabia under these arrangements.

Also Read: Houthi Drone Intercepted Near Mecca as Saudi-Houthi Conflict Reaches “Dangerous Juncture”

Dar also said he had discussed the Houthi issue with Iran, and that Iranian officials suggested engaging the group politically rather than through military means. He described the exchange as informal and preliminary. The suggestion carries weight because Iran is in a separate standoff with the United States over the Strait of Hormuz, which Tehran says will stay closed until seven conditions are met. Elsewhere in the conflict, Yemen’s Saudi-backed government has launched an offensive against Houthi forces controlling the Bab el-Mandeb chokepoint, a move markets fear could further disrupt oil flows that are already reduced by the Hormuz closure. Saudi forces have also dismissed a Houthi claim of an attack on Aramco as propaganda.

The meeting also has a second, less dramatic purpose, which is building the alliance itself. Dar said at least six countries have expressed interest in joining, but he noted that the accord has to become fully operational before the membership can expand, a process he said would take roughly a year. That puts the focus today on institutions as well as on the immediate threat: how the committee works, how it shares intelligence, and what the secretariat is expected to do. The next regularly scheduled meeting of the committee is expected in late October or early November, so the session in Riyadh is being treated as an emergency sitting rather than part of the normal calendar.

For Pakistan, the pact comes at a demanding moment. Islamabad is managing tension on its western border with Afghanistan, where security forces said this week they had foiled an infiltration attempt in the Ghulam Khan sector, and it is also dealing with a major domestic political confrontation as the PTI long march moves through Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The Makkah agreement, with its collective-defence clause, places a foreign commitment on top of those pressures, and the senior line-up Pakistan has sent to Riyadh, with the foreign, defence and army chiefs all attending, shows how seriously Islamabad is treating the meeting.

What comes out of the session will matter more than the session itself. A joint statement could show whether the three countries are planning coordinated military or intelligence steps, a diplomatic effort with Tehran and other regional actors, or mostly a show of unity. Any language on air defence cooperation, joint planning or a timetable for making the alliance operational would be a significant sign. Observers will also watch whether other countries are named as prospective members, and how the Houthis and Iran respond. Until a statement is released, the public picture rests on pre-meeting briefings from Islamabad, Riyadh and Ankara, which stress deterrence and collective defence but leave the operational details unclear.

Compiled by the Weekly PK Staff Desk.