Syria Says It Is Weighing Membership in Saudi-Turkey-Pakistan Mecca Defense Pact

Since Egypt's parliament voted on Oct. 26 to authorize President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to send military support to Saudi Arabia, the Houthi war on the kingdom has kept widening the circle of countries drawn in. Today, Oct. 31, Syria put its name on that list of possibilities.

"Discussions are currently underway to evaluate Syria's entry into the Mecca alliance," Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said at the IISS Manama Dialogue in Bahrain.

That is an evaluation, not a decision. No formal application or final determination has been announced.

What the pact is

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif signed the agreement in Mecca on Aug. 7. Its core clause treats an armed attack on one member as an attack on all three, invoking the collective self-defense right under Article 51 of the U.N. Charter.

The text also covers intelligence sharing, joint exercises, counterterrorism coordination and defense-industrial cooperation, including possible joint production and technology transfers.

A Strategic Political and Defence Committee oversees it, with a permanent secretariat in Riyadh. Retired Pakistani Lt. Gen. Nauman Mahmood is the first secretary-general, serving a three-year term.

Membership is open to other countries, but only with unanimous approval of the three founders.

The pact builds on a Saudi-Pakistani mutual defense agreement signed in September 2025. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have completed ratification. Turkey's domestic approval process is still underway.

Why Syria is asking

Saudi Arabia is a key backer of the Syrian government that took power after Bashar al-Assad fell in December 2024. Al-Shaibani first acknowledged Damascus's interest in late August during a visit to Islamabad, the first by a Syrian foreign minister to Pakistan in nearly two decades. He said then that Syria had reviewed the text and made no decision.

Syria is also trying to rebuild its military and deepen regional ties, according to Daily Sabah's account of the foreign minister's remarks.

The war the pact is facing

The alliance is being tested in real time. Houthi attacks this month included a strike that closed Riyadh's international airport for two weeks. On Oct. 26 the Houthis claimed a ballistic missile attack on King Khalid International Airport and drone strikes on crude pumping stations in eastern and western Saudi Arabia. Saudi spokesman Col. Turki al-Malki said air defenses destroyed three ballistic missiles fired toward the Eastern Province that day.

The fighting has ended a U.N.-brokered truce that had largely held since 2022. On Oct. 23 the U.S. State Department ordered non-emergency government employees and their families to leave Saudi Arabia.

At an emergency meeting in Riyadh this month, the alliance agreed to rapidly deploy previously agreed forces and capabilities to Saudi Arabia. Neither Pakistan nor Turkey has announced attacks on the Houthis, however.

Outside help has come from elsewhere. French President Emmanuel Macron made a surprise trip to Riyadh and said France had sent troops to help protect a key Saudi oil terminal. The U.K. government said it would send fighter jets.

Houthi response

The Houthis reject the premise. After Egypt's vote, senior Houthi official Mohammed Ali al-Houthi condemned the decision and urged members of the Mecca pact to leave the alliance. He said Egypt, by backing the defense of Saudi Arabia, was effectively declaring war on Yemen. A Houthi denial also followed a Saudi-led coalition claim that it had intercepted a drone launched toward the vicinity of Mecca.

Saudi strikes continue inside Yemen. Al-Malki said forces hit five missile storage tunnels, four ballistic missile launchers and a missile depot. Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree said Saudi aircraft carried out 119 strikes in 24 hours on what he called civilian sites in Sanaa and other provinces. Neither tally has been independently verified.

The Iran track

The pact's three founders are also working the Iran file. Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman, Pakistani Army Chief Gen. Asim Munir and Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in Tehran on Oct. 26. Saudi Arabia said the visit was meant to open negotiating channels to "prevent the return of military escalation." Tehran described the talks as focused on "Islamic unity, regional security."

The diplomacy runs against a hard backdrop. The U.S.-Iran ceasefire that took effect in April was extended under the 60-day Islamabad Memorandum in June, then collapsed in July. President Donald Trump told a Mississippi rally on Oct. 26 that the April ceasefire was "a waste of time." Reports of U.S. and Israeli planning for renewed strikes on Iran after the Nov. 3 midterms have circulated, and an Iranian official quickly dismissed a Qatari draft proposal to end the conflict as "unacceptable."

What to watch

Turkey's ratification is the clearest open item. Until Ankara finishes it, the pact's legal footing for one of its three founders remains incomplete. Any Syrian bid then needs a unanimous yes from all three. Damascus has not said when it expects to decide.