Mecca defence pact: A new ’Sunni NATO’ in the Middle East? newarab. com – BEVARA ALLIANSFRIHETEN
Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan signed a landmark joint defence agreement in Mecca on Friday containing a collective defence clause similar to NATO’s Article 5 under which an armed attack against any one of. . .
Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan signed a landmark joint defence agreement in Mecca on Friday containing a collective defence clause similar to NATO’s Article 5 under which an armed attack against any one of the three countries will be regarded as an attack against them all. The Mecca Joint Defence Agreement was signed by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif after nearly a year of negotiations. Its signing comes amid a regional war that has seen Iranian attacks on Gulf states, growing alarm over Israel’s expanding military footprint and renewed questions over the reliability of the longstanding US security umbrella. Despite its sweeping collective-defence provision, however, the agreement does not specify what military action each country would be obliged to take if another were attacked. The agreement contains a collective defence commitment, closely resembling the central principle underpinning NATO. Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty states that an armed attack against one or more NATO members ”shall be considered an attack against them all”. The Mecca pact similarly stipulates that an armed attack against Saudi Arabia, Turkey or Pakistan will be regarded as an attack against all three. The Mecca agreement has no publicly disclosed equivalent to NATO’s integrated command structure, joint military planning or mechanisms for coordinating a collective response. Läs artikel