Comment by Riaz Haq yesterday

Israel alarmed by Saudi-Turkey-Pakistan pact: ‘This alliance is aimed against us’
Israeli official questions claims the Mecca defense pact is focused on Iran and warns Egypt could join; Jerusalem is urged to deepen ties with Greece, Cyprus, India and the UAE as the Sunni axis grows stronger




https://www.ynetnews.com/article/h16pfyvuml


Israel is increasingly concerned that a new defense pact signed by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan is directed not only at Iran but also against Israel, a senior Israeli official said Monday, warning that Egypt could eventually join the alliance.


“This agreement troubles us. This is an alliance aimed against Israel,” the official said of the defense agreement signed over the weekend in Mecca.

Reports following the signing suggested Egypt could become the next country to join the emerging bloc.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told the state-run Anadolu news agency that the agreement is effectively modeled on NATO’s Article 5, under which an attack on one member is considered an attack on all.


Fidan said the alliance would also include a ministerial committee and a general secretariat headquartered in Saudi Arabia.
The senior Israeli official said the agreement reflects a broader regional shift.
“The Shiite axis has weakened, and for a long time we have seen the Sunni axis getting stronger,” the official said. “Israel needs to build alternative alliances, especially with the Hellenic axis, Greece and Cyprus, together with India and the United Arab Emirates.”


Israel, he added, must become “very, very strong” and make other countries dependent on it.
“Israel needs a massive force-building program,” the official said.

The official singled out Turkey and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as a particular concern.
“The story of Turkey and Erdogan is dangerous,” he said. “We would not be surprised if the Egyptians join the ‘Mecca Alliance.’ This alliance is aimed against Israel. Who do you think they are doing this against? Allow me to be skeptical when they say it is really aimed at Iran.”
The agreement was signed Friday during a meeting in Saudi Arabia between Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Erdogan and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Dubbed the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, the pact is the result of nearly a year of negotiations among the three countries.

‘Unite against Israel’
The signing comes as Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan seek greater strategic independence amid regional upheaval.
Reuters noted that although all three countries remain concerned about Iran and its proxies, they are also increasingly troubled by Israel’s military policies in the region, while doubts are growing over the ability of their longtime ally, the United States, to restrain further escalation.
Pakistan said the agreement also calls for expanding security cooperation across multiple fields.
The alliance brings together three very different powers: Saudi Arabia, a major oil producer; Pakistan, a nuclear-armed state; and Turkey, which has NATO’s second-largest military and a rapidly expanding defense industry.
Turkish media said the pact is likely to lead to joint military exercises and training, as well as increased intelligence and technological cooperation.
Following the agreement, Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif directly invoked Israel, calling on the Muslim world to “unite to confront the common threat posed by Israel.”
“Israel poses a threat to all of us,” Asif said. “Islamic countries must adopt a coordinated approach to confront this threat.”

Comment by Riaz Haq 50 minutes ago

Erdogan hopes for expansion of defense pact with Saudis, Pakistan, amid bid to woo Egypt | The Times of Israel

https://www.timesofisrael.com/erdogan-hopes-for-expansion-of-defens...

Turkish president says he aspires that deal, which currently includes Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, will include more countries in region

ISTANBUL, Ankara —  Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday he hoped more countries would join a defense agreement signed last week between Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan that they say is aimed at stabilizing a region wracked by conflict.

The so-called Mecca Joint Defense Agreement was signed on Friday as the Middle East grapples with fallout from the ongoing US-Iran war, which has dragged in regional players and disrupted shipping through the key energy pathways of the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea.

“Our vision for it is not limited to the three countries,” the Turkish leader told the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat daily. “Rather, we aspire for it to grow, and perhaps appropriate conditions will emerge one day for all countries of the region to gather under its umbrella, he added.

He likely did not mean to include Israel in his reference to the region. Turkish-Israel relations, once close, collapsed after the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack on Israel and subsequent war in Gaza. Erdogan frequently compares Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, accuses Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, and has consistently offered diplomatic support for Hamas.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Saturday said Turkey expected Egypt to join the pact “in the next stage,” telling the Anadolu state news agency only “a few technical issues” stood in the way.

Egypt has not commented on the agreement, nor on the remarks by Fidan, who will visit Cairo on Thursday and Friday.

Cairo has robust military cooperation with Ankara, but has given no indication it intends to sign up to the new security alliance, which contains a NATO-style clause saying any attack on one would be seen as an attack on all. Turkey is also a member of NATO.

The five-month US-Iran war, which Washington launched alongside Israel in late February, has upended the security architecture in the region and forced a rethink of decades of conventional wisdom rooted in US military supremacy.

The pact, which consolidates three major US allies into an alternative security architecture that also rejects Israel’s hegemony, seeks to boost security cooperation while also opening the way for “developing joint projects in the defense industries,” Erdogan said.

Along with Turkey, Pakistan has also upped its rhetorical attacks on Israel in recent months, with its defense minister calling Israel “a threat to the entire Muslim world,” and urging a “united military front” against it in Saturday comments.

Since the onset of the war, Saudi Arabia has grown closer to Turkey, with whom it previously had fraught ties, with Erdogan saying Ankara and Riyadh would “take steps that will elevate relations between the two countries to much higher levels,” without giving further details.

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