In the shadow of broken ceasefires and contested straits, three nations — Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan — gathered in Mecca to formalize a mutual defence compact, declaring that an attack on one is an attack on all. The Mecca Joint Defence Agreement arrives not as an act of aggression but as an acknowledgment: the old architecture of regional security, built on American guarantees, has begun to crack. What emerges in its place is a coalition shaped by shared vulnerability, strategic self-interest, and a quiet reckoning with the limits of distant protectors.
Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan forge defence alliance amid Iran tensions
Yemen's ongoing civil war has killed hundreds of thousands; recent Houthi attacks killed at least 58 Yemeni government troops, with maritime blockades threatening regional stability and humanitarian access.
War & Conflict