Shafaq News- Riyadh

Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, and Pakistan on Friday signed the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, pledging to treat an armed attack on any one of the three countries as an attack on all, according to a joint statement.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif signed the pact in Mecca after nearly a year of negotiations, aiming to strengthen “collective deterrence and defense cooperation,” although the statement did not specify the military obligations each country would assume in response to an attack.

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— Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Pakistan (@ForeignOfficePk) August 7, 2026

The deal expands a Saudi-Pakistani security framework formalized on September 17, 2025, when Riyadh and Islamabad signed a Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement also stipulating that aggression against either country would be considered aggression against both. Saudi authorities described the relationship at the time as a strategic partnership spanning nearly eight decades.

According to the 2026 Global Firepower Index, Turkiye ranks as the strongest military power in the Middle East and ninth globally. Pakistan ranks 14th worldwide, while Saudi Arabia is the region's fifth-strongest military and 25th globally.

Pakistan fields about 660,000 active military personnel, including 560,000 army troops, and possesses an estimated 170 nuclear warheads, according to International Institute for Strategic Studies figures.

The three countries also maintain extensive military ties, with Pakistan having deployed about 8,000 troops, fighter jets, drones, and an air-defense system to Saudi Arabia, while Riyadh agreed in 2023 to purchase Turkish drones in what Ankara described as its largest defense export contract at the time.