Mecca Pact activated as Houthis bomb Riyadh airport - The Palki Sharma Show - India Global Review.

The Mecca pact has officially been activated. It's taken one month and multiple strikes but finally the Islamic NATO is joining the action. Pakistan and Turkey have agreed to deploy soldiers to Saudi Arabia. The question is will they join the fight or will they remain defensive? The decision was taken yesterday. Top officials from Turkey and Pakistan flew to Riyadh. They met with senior Saudi officials including the crown prince. Pakistan's delegation was led by its de facto leader. I'm talking about army chief Asim Munir. He was joined by Pakistan's foreign minister Ishaq Dar. And the big outcome was this. The Mecca alliance has been officially activated. This alliance includes a NATO-like promise. An attack on one member is treated as an attack on all. If that member raises a request the others must respond either with weapons or soldiers or intelligence. Basically they must respond with whatever is requested. That collective defense pact was activated yesterday. Both Pakistan and Turkey have promised rapid deployments. Deployments of what? Let me quote from the joint statement. The committee decided to take the necessary measures to provide the agreed military forces and capabilities and ensure their rapid deployment in the kingdom. Thereby enhancing readiness and the collective capacity to confront and counter threats. That's a lot of words. It's not clear what they are sending though. But there will be some deployments. Pakistan has already sent a lot of support. Some 30 to 40,000 soldiers, 30 to 40,000 Pakistani soldiers are reportedly in the Saudi kingdom. Plus four plane loads of weapons have been shipped to Yemen. It's not clear what more they can do. And do remember Pakistan and Turkey have their own interests here. Yes, they want to help Riyadh. But they also want to mediate between Iran and the Gulf. We heard that from the Turkish foreign minister. He wants to keep diplomacy alive. We thoroughly examined from every angle what kind of support could be provided regarding the Yemen issue, particularly for the defense of Saudi Arabia. And on the other hand, what steps could be taken to resolve the conflict through peaceful means and dialogue. Saudi Arabia is demonstrating a truly constructive approach toward resolving this issue. And we had the opportunity to hear their perspective once more and share our own views. Either way, the first hurdle has been cleared. After weeks of complications and complaints, the Mecca pact has been activated. The next question is the effectiveness. Will this be a symbolic deployment for optics or will it reshape the battle? Speaking of which, things are moving fast in Yemen. On Sunday, the Yemeni government launched a counteroffensive. This is a government backed by Saudi Arabia, the Yemeni government, the government in the south. Their soldiers are leading the fight on the ground. And from the air, Saudi Arabia is dropping bombs. Their mission, to retake all land held by the Houthis. The initial attacks have delivered some success. The Yemeni soldiers say they have taken over key Red Sea locations, like Mocha, which is a major port city, and Dubab, which overlooks the Bab al-Mandeb. Both these places were captured by the Houthis last month, and both are strategically important. The Bab al-Mandeb links the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean. If the Houthis control it, they can shut down this trade route. And that is why they captured it in the first place. The question is, have they lost that leverage? Have the Houthis lost that leverage over Bab al-Mandeb? It's very hard to verify all the information. The Houthis have denied these claims. They're calling it illusory victories. But we do have some videos from yesterday. They show Yemeni fighters driving away the Houthis. Take a look at this. It's almost like a video game. And this is just one front. There is intense fighting in Taiz as well. Taiz is a city in southwest Yemen. It's the second most populous city in the country. And the Houthis have encircled it. Intense gun battles are underway in this area. The Houthis are carrying out aerial attacks. If they spot incoming government assets, they take them out. That too in the middle of highways. Look at this. The Houthis are fighting two enemies. On the ground, they're battling the Yemeni soldiers. In the air, they're fighting Saudi Arabia. In the last 24 hours, they've targeted several Saudi locations. For a closer look, let's head over to the map room. All these Saudi targets were allegedly hit. King Khalid Airport, which is located in the capital Riyadh. Rabigh, which is home to an Aramco refinery. The Aba International Airport in the southwest. The Khamis Mushait Air Base, which is located right next door. And finally, bases in Najran and Jizan. Najran is located close to the Yemen border. It's a key location for mobilization of soldiers. And Jizan is a port on the Red Sea. It is also home to a major refinery. The Houthis say that they've hit all these cities with ballistic and cruise missiles. These strikes also came with a warning. Not for Saudi Arabia, but for international airlines. The armed forces warn all international airlines using Saudi airspace to cease their flights as it has become an operation zone for our forces, with the exception of the sacred airspace over Mecca and Medina. So where do things go from here? Here's what we think on the forecast. Prediction number one. Expect the Houthis to ramp up attacks on Saudi Arabia. Riyadh is the brains and the bronze behind this counter-attack. So the Houthis will try to pressure them. We may see more attempts to strike energy sites and airports because the Houthi aim is to choke the kingdom financially. Prediction number two. If this war continues, it will get more intense and attritional. Don't be fooled by these rapid gains because remember, the Houthis only captured the Red Sea last month. It will be much harder to dislodge them from their strongholds, from places like Sana, which is the capital, and Sada, an ancient city. These are places that the Houthis have held since 2014. So the bottom line is this. This fighting could get very ugly. In the last decade, the Yemen civil war killed 370,000 people. 370,000 people. It also displaced more than four and a half million others. The United Nations called it the world's worst humanitarian crisis. If this fighting continues, that is what Yemen is looking at.