Yemen’s Government Turns on Sanaa as Turkey and Pakistan Commit Forces
Saudi-backed government forces have declared a “battle for liberation” and launched an offensive towards the Houthi-held capital, saying they have taken Mocha on the west coast. The claim is not independently confirmed. Separately, a committee of the Mecca defence pact — Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan — agreed to “provide the agreed military forces and capabilities and ensure their rapid deployment” in the kingdom.
The second half of that is the part with consequences beyond Yemen. Until today the Mecca pact was a signature; activating it commits two non-Arab powers, one of them nuclear-armed and one a NATO member, to putting troops on Saudi soil in answer to what the committee called “heinous” Houthi attacks. That changes the character of the war from a Saudi-led coalition campaign into something closer to a bloc, and it follows Houthi missile and drone claims against Aramco sites at Riyadh and Khurais at the weekend. On the ground the government’s position is more fragile than its language: it declared the offensive only after the Houthis cut the main road linking besieged Taiz to Aden, and taking Mocha, if confirmed, would be the recovery of a port the Houthis seized only last month. Heavy damage was reported at a factory in Sanaa. Every territorial figure in this war is a belligerent claim and almost none of it is independently verified, which is worth holding on to when the numbers get large. The 2022 truce collapsed in July. Watch whether Turkish or Pakistani units actually arrive, because a committee decision and a deployment are not the same thing.