3 states step up joint defense as threats grow

Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkiye agreed on Monday to immediately implement their collective-defense commitments under the Mecca Defense Alliance, as fighting in Yemen intensified and security risks mounted across the Middle East.

The announcement came the same day Saudi Arabia's aviation authority said two airports in the country — King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Airport and Najran International Airport — had been targeted, injuring three people and causing property damage.

Emergency response teams and relevant authorities immediately launched responses in line with approved procedures and plans.

Yemen's Houthi group claimed on Tuesday that it had launched a fresh ballistic missile strike on Abha International Airport in southwestern Saudi Arabia, disrupting air traffic as cross-border hostilities continued to intensify, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The Houthis said late on Monday that they struck airports, an oil facility and military sites across Saudi Arabia with missiles and drones, while the Saudi-led coalition said it had foiled a Houthi plot targeting waterways in the southern Red Sea.

In a televised broadcast, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said the group had carried out three operations in Saudi Arabia. The first targeted King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh. The second hit an Aramco refinery in Rabigh, a Red Sea coastal city, and caused a fire, he said.

The third targeted Abha International Airport, King Khalid Air Base near Khamis Mushait, the Aqifa military camp in the southwestern Asir region, and other "vital sites" in Najran and Jazan, he added.

Following an emergency meeting of the Strategic Political and Defense Committee of the Makkah Alliance for Defense in Riyadh on Monday, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkiye issued a joint statement saying the committee had appointed Pakistani Lieutenant General Nauman Mahmood as the alliance's first secretary-general for a three-year term.

The alliance, a collective-defense partnership among the three countries, is also known as the Mecca Defense Alliance.

The alliance will take the necessary measures to provide military forces and ensure their rapid deployment in Saudi Arabia, the statement said.

The three countries also condemned attempts to target Mecca and Medina, as well as continued attacks on Saudi cities, civilians and economic facilities.

Last month, several US media outlets reported that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Rashad al-Alimi, chairman of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council, had sought assistance from US President Donald Trump for military attacks against the Houthi group, but that Trump had refused to intervene or make a direct pledge of military support.

However, speaking to the media at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Monday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US has a defense and security agreement with Saudi Arabia and "we intend to live by it". He declined to discuss further details.

Rasha Al Joundy, a senior researcher at the Dubai Public Policy Research Centre in the United Arab Emirates, told China Daily that the Iran war has heightened the Houthi threat to Saudi Arabia, prompting a push for more regional approaches to defense.

"This will increase while the threat persists, while Trump is trying to put distance between his policy in the Strait of Hormuz and what is happening in Yemen, so he doesn't open another straits clash for the US in the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb," she said.

Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi, secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council, condemned Houthi attacks on facilities at King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Airport and Najran International Airport in Saudi Arabia.

It is important for the international community to assume its responsibilities and adopt a decisive stance against these attacks, he said.

Contact the writers at jan@chinadailyapac.com