What ‘activating’ the Makkah pact really means |
Saudi Arabia’s decision on 5 October to activate the Makkah defence pact reveals how precarious its security has become. In the Houthis, it faces an enemy capable of threatening its cities, disrupting its energy infrastructure and challenging its access to the Red Sea. This, even after spending heavily on sophisticated US weapons and cultivating powerful Western partners. Bringing Turkey and Pakistan into the response may bolster its sense of security but it could also widen a war that none of the three governments can control.
The emergency meeting in Riyadh on 5 October committed the three countries to implementing their collective defence obligations and rapidly deploying agreed forces and capabilities to Saudi Arabia. Signed on 7 August this year, the agreement treats an armed attack against one member as an attack against all. Its activation gives political substance to that promise. Riyadh wants the Houthis and their Iranian backers to understand that continued attacks could bring them into confrontation with a broader coalition.
However, ‘activation’ does not mean that Turkish and Pakistani soldiers have entered combat against the Houthis. Pakistan’s defence minister has described their current role as supportive. Any deployment announcement is also subject to national legislation, and Turkey’s parliament has yet to ratify the agreement. These qualifications place limits on what the announcement immediately delivers. The pact has acquired greater political weight, but its operational contours are still fuzzy.
That distinction matters because military assistance takes different forms. Intelligence sharing, training and air defence could help protect Saudi territory without sending allied troops into Yemen. Yet defensive support can also facilitate offensive........