A Houthi soldier stands guard in front of a banner depicting the Kaaba, Islam's holiest shrine in Mecca, during a protest against Saudi Arabia, in Sana'a, Yemen, 18 September 2026. Thousands of Houthi supporters demonstrated in Sana'a to reject Saudi military intervention in Yemen amid escalating attacks. The protest comes as Houthi fighters and Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces have been fighting for more than two weeks over control of Yemen's Red Sea coastal areas near the Bab al-Mandab Strait. EPA/YAHYA ARHABThe decision was taken at an emergency meeting of the Mecca Defence Alliance in Riyadh and would be carried out under "approved arrangements" and the national laws of the three countries, the statement said.
The meeting "reaffirmed the solidarity and unity of our countries in confronting the heinous attacks against the Kingdom and the holy sites," the Saudi defence minister said on X.
The Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen's Houthis said on Thursday that the Iran-aligned group had attacked a power distribution station in the Saudi city of Medina which supplies electricity to the Prophet's Mosque, one of Islam's holiest sites.
The three countries signed the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement in August, under which an armed attack on one member is considered an attack on all.
The agreement announced at the time gave no specifics on the military commitments or defence obligations of each country.
(Reporting by Ariba Shahid in Islamabad; Hyunsu Yim in Barcelona; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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