Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey...the “Mecca Alliance” meets in Riyadh to discuss developments in the region

The Turkish Foreign Ministry said, on Sunday, that the Saudi capital, Riyadh, will host a meeting on Monday between officials from Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan, to discuss recent developments in the region, in light of the announcement by the Yemeni government, supported by Riyadh, of the start of a broad military operation. This meeting comes within the framework of the work of the “Strategic and Political Committee for Defense,” in reference to the NATO-style Mecca Defense Alliance, which was established in August. The committee is committed to organizing security and military cooperation in the region.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry added in its statement that the meeting will discuss "recent developments in the region and the level of progress achieved in efforts to institutionalize the alliance." On Sunday, the Saudi-backed Yemeni government announced the start of a broad military operation aimed at repelling the progress made by the Iranian-backed Yemeni Houthi group during the recent period.

Last month, the Iran-backed Houthis launched a lightning attack along the Red Sea coast and were able to control a major port, which increased pressure on the security of international navigation. The head of the Yemeni Presidential Command Council, Rashad Al-Alimi, said in a televised speech on Sunday that the military operations aim to restore the lands that the Houthis still control, and re-establish state authority in various parts of the country.

The renewed fighting has already led to the displacement of tens of thousands of people from their homes, while future developments may affect the balance of power in Yemen, as well as causing further disruption to shipping traffic through the Red Sea. In early September, the Houthis took control of large areas of the Yemeni coast on the Red Sea, extending south to the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which is a vital passage for commercial ships heading towards the Indian Ocean.

The Houthis announced that they would target Saudi ships trying to cross the strait, threatening to impose additional pressure on global trade routes and energy transport routes. Since late July, the Houthis have launched ballistic missiles and drones towards multiple targets in Saudi Arabia, including industrial and energy facilities.

Much of the fighting has recently been concentrated in the Taiz region in southern Yemen, where the Houthis sought to cut off supply lines and isolate government forces in the region's capital. The Houthis said on Sunday that they had taken control of a main highway linking Taiz to the headquarters of the Yemeni government in Aden.

It is noteworthy that the war in Yemen, which broke out in March 2015, had claimed the lives of 377,000 people by the end of 2021 - including deaths resulting from direct and indirect causes - according to United Nations data. The organization explained that more than 150,000 of these victims died as a direct result of the armed conflict, while others died as a result of hunger and disease resulting from the humanitarian crisis left by the war.

A truce - reached under the auspices of the United Nations in 2022 - led to a period that witnessed a relative decrease in the intensity of hostilities between the two parties, before violence escalated again in August.