First meeting: the regional alliance that worries Israel has started

The regional defense alliance that causes concern in Israel was launched today (Monday) – and senior officials from Turkey, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia will meet for the first time as part of this forum in Istanbul. This meeting is expected to be the first of the joint committee established as part of the Mecca defense agreement for security cooperation that was signed at the beginning of the month.

According to a Reuters report, today’s meeting in Istanbul was attended by the foreign and defense ministers of the three countries, as well as the commanders of the general staff of the three armies. According to a source in the Turkish Foreign Ministry, “international security issues” will be on the agenda.

The discussions are expected to deal with strengthening the defense capabilities of the three countries, increasing the joint action capability and coordination between their armed forces, as well as deepening cooperation in the defense industries. Within this framework, possibilities for the joint production and development of defense systems are also expected to rise.

The defense agreement aims to strengthen the joint deterrence capacity of the three countries against any act of aggression. One of the main clauses in it states that an armed attack against one of the three countries will be considered an attack against all of them. This is a principle similar to Article 5 of the NATO Charter, which establishes a principle of collective defense between the alliance members.

Tonight, Iran attacked the United Arab Emirates, for the first time in months since the height of the conflict in the Middle East, against the backdrop of yesterday’s attacks by the US military on the island of Larach in the Strait of Hormuz. The renewal of attacks in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf may bring a renewed threat to Saudi Arabia as well, which may put the defense alliance to the first test.

At the end of the week, Reuters reported that a Patriot-type air defense battery operated by the Greek security forces and stationed in Saudi Arabia intercepted a swarm of drones in the area of ​​Yanbua port in the Kingdom, on the coast of the Red Sea. No details were provided about this unusual attack, but apparently it was launched by the Houthis in Yemen.

Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan do not hide the fact that they share a common concern about Israel’s military operations in the region. Against the background of the recent tensions between Israel and Turkey, since the Israeli attack in Syria, this issue is also more firmly in the focus of the discussion.

Turkey, which has the second largest army in NATO after the US, has already made it clear that the new defense agreement is not necessarily a closed framework for the three countries. According to Ankara, the agreement may be extended to other countries, when Egypt was mentioned as a possible candidate for joining. According to reports, Egypt rejected Turkey’s offer to join the alliance due to fears in Cairo of heavy pressure from Israel and the United Arab Emirates in the face of the move.

Turkey also emphasized that the new alliance is not intended to replace existing alliances. The agreement with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan at this stage places the three countries in the framework of joint security cooperation, and today’s meeting in Istanbul will be the first meeting of the committee established by virtue of it.