Syria studying joining Mecca defence agreement, foreign minister says

Syria is considering whether to join the new defence grouping formed by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan, Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said during a visit to Islamabad this week.

Shaibani said Damascus had not taken a final decision, describing the three signatories as important regional states and welcoming the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement.

The pact, signed in Mecca on 7 August by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, declares that an armed attack on one member will be treated as an attack on all three.

The agreement is intended to deepen collective deterrence and security cooperation, though its precise scope and how any future members might accede to it have not been made public. Its published text also outlines cooperation in areas including training, logistics and intelligence-sharing.

Shaibani’s remarks came amid continued Israeli attacks in Syria and Israel’s expanded occupation of territory in the Syrian Golan Heights.

Days before the visit, Israel struck the Abu al-Duhur airbase near Aleppo, claiming that it was acting to prevent a Turkish military deployment there. Netanyahu’s office said Syria and Israel had agreed to maintain a "status quo in security matters", but alleged that Damascus was close to breaching this by allowing Turkish forces at the Idlib-area base.

Damascus has denied that it is coordinating with Ankara on a military buildup at Abu al-Duhur or planning to establish a Turkish base there. Shaibani said the airfield was largely empty and undergoing reconstruction.

Speaking on the sidelines of talks in Islamabad, Shaibani accused Israel of pursuing expansionist aims and violating the 1974 disengagement agreement governing the occupied Golan Heights. He said it was premature to discuss a strategic agreement with Israel while Israeli attacks continued, stressing that Damascus’s immediate priority was to halt the military action.

The trip was the first visit by a Syrian foreign minister to Pakistan in nearly two decades, and the first since the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in late 2024. Shaibani met Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, with the two sides discussing the expansion of bilateral ties, including defence, trade and broader regional cooperation.

Cairo has also signalled interest in the emerging security arrangement, although no formal accession process or expansion timetable has been announced.