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Welcome back to Foreign Policy’s Situation Report, where I’m flying solo once more until John returns to our inboxes next week.

Here’s what’s on tap for the day: The Mecca pact draws Pakistan and Turkey into the Saudi-Houthi conflict, Trumpworld figures come under fire, and Germany grapples with a major spy scandal.

Welcome back to Foreign Policy’s Situation Report, where I’m flying solo once more until John returns to our inboxes next week.

Here’s what’s on tap for the day: The Mecca pact draws Pakistan and Turkey into the Saudi-Houthi conflict, Trumpworld figures come under fire, and Germany grapples with a major spy scandal.

Defending the Kingdom

How soon is too soon to trigger a mutual defense pact? Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Turkey made it two months, triggering the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement on Monday that the three countries had signed in early August.

The move is a significant escalation toward the defense of Saudi Arabia in its battle against the Yemen-based Houthi militant group, which continues to strike the Saudi capital, Riyadh, and attacked multiple airports in the region this week. Saudi-backed coalition forces supporting the Yemeni government continue to retaliate against the strikes.

So where do Pakistan and Turkey come in? Both countries have thus far been circumspect about the form and extent of their military support to Saudi Arabia. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Thursday that the country was still assessing how best to assist the Saudis, but he firmly ruled out participation in any offensive operations. There’s also the matter of Turkey’s parliament still not having officially ratified the Mecca agreement, which means any support would likely continue to be part of Turkey and Saudi Arabia’s long-standing bilateral relationship.

“The bylaws have barely been agreed to, so I’m sure this is probably an earlier test than any of these countries would have wanted for this mutual defense agreement,” said April Longley Alley, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy who previously served as senior political advisor to the United Nations’ special envoy to Yemen. But “the Houthis pose an existential threat to Saudi Arabia” and are a “much more formidable opponent than they were when the war first started,” she added. The Saudi government’s push to activate the agreement “is also signaling that this is not just an agreement on paper, that it has some meaning to it.”

Pakistani........

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