The Mecca Joint Defence Agreement, signed on 7 August 2026 in Mecca, by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, establishes a collective defence arrangement under which an armed attack against any one of the three states is to be regarded as an attack against all three. This is a historic step, and the agreement is a landmark event, that will change the future of the wider Middle East. Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Pakistan are different countries with many particular features. But there is enough common ground between them to make the new situation created by the Mecca Defence Agreement significant, and their efforts credible. They are also complimentary in terms of what they can bring to the process that they are about to start.Pakistan and Turkiye have large and developed standing armiies; Pakistan has nuclear weapons; Turkiye has a dynamic and expanding arms industry; Saudi Arabia has financial resources, and extensive diplomatic kudos in the Islamic world and beyond. The official statement announcing the new agreement said: “Guided by the longstanding historical ties among the three states, based on the enduring bonds of brotherhood and Islamic solidarity that unite them, and building upon their shared strategic interests and longstanding defense cooperation, HRH the Crown Prince, the President of Türkiye, and the Prime Minister of Pakistan signed the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement, reflecting the three states' shared commitment to further strengthening their collective security and to promoting peace, security, and stability in the region and beyond, in pursuit of a secure and prosperous future. The agreement is intended to strengthen collective deterrence against any act of aggression, and stipulates that any armed attack against any one of the three states shall be regarded as an attack against them all. It further provides for the enhancement of all aspects of defense cooperation among the three states”. Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan said that the pact would function similar to NATO, with a minister's committee, political and military committees, and a permanent secretariat to oversee the implementation of decisions. The permanent general secretariat is expected to be based in Saudi Arabia.

The Houthi Movement, that controls Sanaa and other parts of Yemen, have reignited the civil war in the country, and launched attackes on Saudi border regions. At least 30 Yemeni government troops have reportedly been killed in Houthi rebel attacks on military camps in central Yemen. The defence ministry said ballistic missiles and drones struck several camps in the provinces of Marib and Hadramawt, resulting in the death and injury of a number of Yemeni personnel. It did not give an exact toll. The ministry denounced the attacks as "treacherous" and vowed to "respond to this aggression at an appropriate time and place". The Houthis, who control much of north-western Yemen and are backed by Iran, said they had targeted "large Saudi military build-ups" preparing for an offensive. A Saudi-led coalition has supported the government during the civil war. In a separate attack, the coalition's spokesperson said that 11 civilians had been wounded in the Saudi Arabian border region of Najran, in what they described as a Houthi strike. (click image to read more)

Armenia president, Vahagn Khachaturyan has re-appointed Nikol Pashinyan as Armenian prime minister, after the decisive victory of his Civil Contract party in parliamentary elections in June. During a ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Yerevan, President Khachaturyan signed a decree on the appointment of Nikol Pashinyan as Prime Minister of the Republic. President Vahagn Khachaturyan said in short remarks: It is a great honor for me to sign a decree on appointing you to the post of Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, for which I received a proposal from the political majority in the National Assembly, under Article 149 of the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia. I sincerely congratulate you, I wish you great patience, endurance, and determination to lead us in these difficult times, to lead the country to the future, a prosperous future. Nikol Pashinyan thanked the president and added,  I must say honestly that in 2018, when I assumed the post of Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia as a result of the People's, non-violent, velvet revolution, it would have been difficult to predict that we would go down such a path and I think it would have been difficult to predict that we would be able to overcome this path. But we are where we are, and I think that the key role and significance in all this is unequivocally and undoubtedly the people of the Republic of Armenia, who, after all, have demonstrated special expressions of state consciousness and state-centeredness throughout this period. And of course, this is a great obligation and commitment. Of course, the Government will be formed in the near future and all members of the Government, including me, will already enshrine our obligations to our people in the text of the oath.  In the meantime Ruben Rubinyan has been elected Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia, following a secret vote of MPs. He is a 36-year-old MP from the ruling Civil Contract party, who was one of the deputy speakers in the previous parliament and, until recently, was the special representative in the negotiations on the normalization of relations with Turkey.