Pact's Coordination Gap Laid Bare: Turkey Cites Unfinished Institutionalization, Pakistan Confirms No Saudi Request, as Riyadh Seeks Outside Air-Defense Help

AP reported that Turkish and Pakistani officials, speaking after the Mecca drone scare, said they have not received a formal Saudi request for military support. An unnamed Turkish official said efforts to "institutionalize" the Mecca alliance must be completed before it becomes operational. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif offered rhetorical solidarity, saying Pakistan and Saudi Arabia stand "unwaveringly, shoulder to shoulder," while ISPR Director-General Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhary stressed the pact is strictly defensive: "It is defensive. There's nothing aggressive. There are no regional aspirations. It is collective deterrence." Separately, AP reported Saudi Arabia has depleted its air-defense interceptor stocks after the broader 2026 Iran war and has asked France, Britain, Pakistan and Egypt for air-defense-team support, citing US inventory constraints — a bilateral request that sits outside the pact's own still-unratified institutional machinery.