Syria Seeks Membership in Mecca Alliance, Foreign Minister Announces at Bahrain Dialogue

Beirut — Months after Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan signed the Mecca Pact, Syria’s foreign minister announced the country’s interest in joining the alliance.

In a Saturday address at the IISS Manama Dialogue in Bahrain, Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani stated that discussions are underway to assess Syria’s potential accession to the Mecca alliance.

Signed on August 7, the Mecca Pact seeks to bolster collective deterrence against aggression, treating an armed attack against any member as an attack against all three. The agreement also calls for enhanced defense cooperation across all domains, per a joint statement from the signatories.

Experts anticipate that the three nations will establish a trilateral defense production framework. Should Syria join the pact, it would integrate into this cooperative ecosystem.

The pact was concluded against a backdrop of escalating regional attacks involving Iran-backed Houthis, even as Syria emerges from a 14-year civil conflict that concluded in December 2024.

Emphasizing Syria’s position amid persistent Iranian attacks on Gulf states, al-Shaibani remarked that Syria views Gulf security as integral to its own regional stability. “We stand by the Gulf governments and peoples to confront all challenges and cross-border militias,” he stated, regardless of broader political divides.

Al-Shaibani’s remarks at the Manama Dialogue coincide with President Ahmad al-Sharaa’s September call to remove all foreign military bases from Syria, a step he said would secure “complete and pure sovereignty” for the Syrian state.

Al-Shaibani further told the Manama Dialogue that Syria has expelled intervening militias, and that this experience could foster cooperation with other states facing similar threats. “Any weapon outside state control undermines the state before harming others, and by extension, the neighborhood,” he cautioned.

Syria is not alone in exploring membership. Defense analyst Riad Kahwaji noted in August that Qatar and Kuwait are also potential candidates for the alliance.

‘Kuwait already maintains a defense pact with Pakistan, and Qatar has one with Turkey, making them the most probable first entrants into the Mecca Pact,’ Kahwaji observed.

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