The Saudi Defense Minister discusses with the Pakistani Army Commander the attacks on Mecca and civilian facilities

Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman said on Saturday that he discussed, during a meeting with Pakistani Army Commander Field Marshal Asim Munir, “the sinful attacks that targeted Mecca and the civil and economic installations in the Kingdom.”

Prince Khalid bin Salman added, via the “X” platform (formerly Twitter): “We praised the outcomes of the meeting of the Chiefs of Staff of the countries of the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, and we discussed the sinful attacks that targeted Mecca Al-Mukarramah, and the civil and economic facilities in the Kingdom, and we confirmed the continuation of joint work to confront these attacks in accordance with the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement.”

It is noteworthy that the meeting came in light of the Kingdom's continued exposure to attacks launched by the Houthi rebels in Yemen, who are supported by Iran.

The Saudi Ministry of Defense announced, on Friday, that the Chief of the Defense Forces and the Chiefs of the General Staff of the states party to the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement (Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan) held a meeting in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, in which they discussed “ways forward in developing intelligence cooperation and military coordination, in a way that contributes to strengthening deterrence and collective defense.”

This meeting comes after the Pakistani Foreign Ministry announced earlier that the military leaders would hold an “urgent” meeting, in light of Saudi Arabia’s continued exposure to attacks launched by the Houthis.

The Mutual Defense Agreement - which was concluded last month and is similar in nature to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) agreements - stipulates that any attack against any of the member states “shall be considered an attack against all of them.”

Last month, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan stated that the agreement “does not identify a common enemy and does not target a specific country,” stressing that “any country will not be a target as long as it does not attack member states.”

In his speech before the United Nations General Assembly, on Friday, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif reiterated what Fidan mentioned; He expressed “Islamabad’s solidarity with the Saudi people,” and said: “This alliance is not directed against any country; rather, it is a collective commitment to defense, stability, and peace in the region, and nothing more.”

Sharif's statements carried a deliberate signal to Tehran that the agreement would not be used to target Iran.