Source : BRICS NEWS
Syria is weighing whether to join the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement, the mutual defence pact signed by Turkey, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, although Damascus has not announced any decision to take part.
The news aggregator BRICS News reported on X on the evening of October 31, 2026, Malaysia time, that Syria was considering joining the “Mecca Pact” alliance with the three countries. LNA could not find a new official Syrian statement issued on that day, and the report did not cite one. Syria’s interest in the pact was first stated publicly by its foreign minister in August.
What Damascus has said
Speaking to journalists in Islamabad on August 21, 2026, during the first visit by a Syrian foreign minister to Pakistan since the fall of the Assad government in December 2024, Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani said Syria was reviewing the agreement. “Like other countries, we have also reviewed the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement,” he said, according to The Jerusalem Post and The Media Line. “These are three important countries in the region. We are reviewing our options, but for now, we have not made any decision about joining it.”
Al-Shaibani told local media at the time that Damascus would decide at a later stage, TRT World reported, and he described Turkey as a “key partner” in Syria’s reconstruction. During the same visit, Syria and Pakistan agreed to reactivate their joint ministerial commission, maintain direct flights, set up a business council and hold an investment forum.
A pact now in action
The Mecca agreement was signed by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey on August 7, 2026, and states that an attack on any one of the signatories will be treated as an attack on all, according to News18 and Türkiye Today. On October 5, the three countries announced that they had begun implementing their mutual defence commitments and deploying forces and capabilities to Saudi Arabia amid the escalating confrontation with Yemen’s Houthi group, the Syrian outlet Enab Baladi reported.
Speculation about Syria’s place in the arrangement grew after President Ahmed al-Sharaa visited Riyadh on October 6 and met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. A source told the outlet 963+ that the talks covered the possibility of Syria joining the alliance, but no agreement was announced. On October 7, Syria’s foreign ministry received a message for al-Sharaa from Pakistan’s prime minister, delivered by Pakistan’s chargé d’affaires in Damascus; its contents were not disclosed. Enab Baladi also reported that Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar had said more than six countries had expressed interest in joining, without naming them.
“No bar” on new members
The latest signal came from Pakistan’s military. In an interview with Reuters on Friday, October 30, the Director-General of Inter-Services Public Relations, Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, said the pact was open to new members. “If you carefully read the Mecca Agreement, there is no bar on anybody joining or not joining. Anyone who has a shared vision of collective deterrence and regional peace, why not? Everyone is most welcome,” he said, according to News18. He added that any decision to expand the agreement would rest with the political leadership of the three founding members.
Analysts quoted by Enab Baladi said rebuilding Syria’s armed forces and achieving stability at home remain major hurdles to full membership, given the reciprocal military obligations the pact carries, and that Damascus may first pursue closer security cooperation. The outlet also noted a Reuters report that Syria was considering military assistance to Saudi Arabia, which Damascus denied.
Separately, Syria’s foreign ministry said on October 23 that the country had joined a different Mecca agreement, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s convention on combating corruption, which it signed in Baghdad on October 17, according to Syria Now. That accession is not related to the defence pact.
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