This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit maajidnawaz.substack.com This Radical Dispatch Newszine - below - is provided free for all subscribers. At the top of this post, Resistance Radio presents our WARRIOR CREED video/audio podcast from , with a transcript provided - Middle East Defence Pact Activated: Pakistan & Turkey Back Saudi Arabia. This podcast can be set to either audiovisual, or just audio, and is for premium members of Radical Media only. To listen, basic members should upgrade to the premium service here: Read on now for our free Radical Dispatch. Muslim Nato Activated: Pakistan & Turkey Back Saudi Arabia - A Radical Dispatch 1) Saudi Launches Yemen Counter-Offensive The internationally recognised beleaguered government of Yemen, alongside the Saudis have launched a counter-offensive against the Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen, who last month overran a critical shipping chokepoint that leads into the Suez canal, known as the Bab al-Mandeb strait. The Times reports 5th October 2026: “Yemen’s government forces, backed by Saudi airstrikes, closed on the strategic Bab al-Mandeb Strait after launching an offensive against the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels who control the Red Sea waterway. The Saudi-led coalition said the operation began with at least 100 airstrikes, which provided cover for the Yemeni government troops as they attempted to reverse a Houthi advance last month that put them in control of the strait…Rashad al-Alimi, the head of the internationally recognised government of Yemen, announced the operation to retake the country in a statement issued from Saudi Arabia as Saudi fighter jets struck Houthi positions with American and British logistical support.” Somewhat alarmingly, the Houthis fought back and captured the head of the Yemen government’s home. The Times reports 5th October 2026: “Hours later the Houthis captured his home in the region of Taiz. In a video several rebels lined up outside Alimi’s house to chant their slogan: ‘God is the greatest, death to America, death to Israel, a curse on the Jews and victory to Islam’.’’ With the Iranian theocracy already choking a critical exit route for Saudi oil via the Strait of Hormuz to the north of the Arabian Peninsula, the Houthi seizure of the Bab al-Mandeb route had threatened to close the Red Sea and international access to the Suez canal, sending global energy costs skyrocketing. The strategic significance of this conflict is gleaned from the map below. The Times reports 22nd September 2026: The Saudis had repeatedly requested international help, only to receive largely symbolic refuelling air support from Britain under the new PM Andy Burnham. The Times reports 22nd September 2026: “Andy Burnham has agreed to provide British military support for Saudi Arabia as it counters attacks by Houthi fighters. In his first major foreign policy intervention, the prime minister said RAF planes would support “defensive” air-to-air refuelling for Saudi strikes.” Trump has so far consistently refused to get drawn into the region any further, and remains focused instead on settling the route of the conflict, with Iran. The Times reports 5th October 2026: “The US has ruled out direct intervention in Yemen, but sources say it is actively assisting Saudi Arabia with targeting intelligence and helping refuel its jets as they conduct air strikes on the Houthis. Britain also announced it would assist in refuelling Saudi jets and France pledged to send aerial defences to the kingdom….A resolution in Yemen is unlikely without a wider deal between the US and Iran, but the US, which is enforcing its own naval blockade of Iran, wants to pressure the Iranian regime into making concessions.” This relative global inaction led to the Ansarallah Houthis escalating their attacks on Saudi Arabian infrastructure. Reports indicated that even Islam’s holiest sites in Mecca and Medina were being targeted by the Houthis, which they subsequently denied. The Times reports 22nd September 2026: “Last week Saudi Arabia issued brief alerts over possible attacks on the holy city of Mecca and in the Jeddah and Taif governorates, after the kingdom was repeatedly targeted by the Houthis in recent days. The alerts, including the first issued in Mecca since the Middle East war began, were quickly lifted, according to the Saudi civil defence. They came a day after a series of ballistic missile and drone attacks launched from Yemen, which injured 13 people in the kingdom’s south.” The Saudis desperately needed wider help. 2) Mecca Defence Pact Activated After reports of attacks on Mecca and Medina, the joint Mecca Defence Alliance was activated. The Middle East’s two strongest military powers Pakistan and Turkey then entered the chat. Al-Jazeera reported on this development here. Click to play: “…to send troops to Saudi Arabia for its defence. Military chiefs along with defence and foreign ministers from Pakistan, Turkiye and Saudi Arabia held an emergency meeting in Riyadh under the defence pact. Amid escalation by the Ansarallah Houthis and a counter offensive by government forces in Yemen. The critical diplomatic meeting underscored the urgency of a united response by some of the region’s most powerful militaries. ‘On the Yemen issue we discussed in all its dimensions what kind of support could be given to Saudi Arabia and what could be done for the resolution of the problem through peaceful means’. The disruption in Bab al-Mandeb Strait after the Strait of Hormuz and increasing attacks on energy infrastructure have changed the region. A new regional security architecture involving Turkey and Pakistan is emerging, tied more directly to the security of Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Defence Minister says, ‘The emergency meeting of the strategic political and defence committee under the Mecca alliance for defence, reaffirmed the solidarity and unity of our countries in confronting the heinous attacks against the Kingdom and the holy sites. The committee agreed to activate collective deterrence measures within the framework of the Alliance, in response to the attacks and all those responsible for them’. On the ground, the balance remains in flux as Yemen’s war is entering a new, a potentially more dangerous phase. In recent weeks, Houthis made new gains along Yemen’s western coast, including Moha, and areas around Bab el-Mandeb. Government forces, backed by Saudi air power, are now pushing on multiple fronts to reverse those gains. The internationally recognised government says it has launched a major offensive to retake territory seized by the Houthis, including areas along the strategic Red Sea coast. Government forces say they have since retaken the port city of Moha and an airport near Dhabab. Positions close to the Bab al-Mandeb. They also say they have launched a strategic offensive towards Sana’a, the Houthi-held capital. The battlefield claims cannot be independently verified. Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council Chief Rashid Al-Alimi announced what he called a major military operation to retake Houthi-held territory. The Saudi-led military coalition announced its participation in the offensive targeting the Houthis. In a statement, the coalition’s spokesman reaffirmed around-the-clock air support for the Yemeni armed forces on the ground and confirmed that a hundred fighter jets participated today in Operation Dawn of Yemen. Pro-Houthi commentator Hussain al-Bukhaiti says Ansar Allah Houthis still have the upper hand in the conflict. ‘They were launching attack against Israeli ships in the entire Red Sea, as well as in the entire Gulf of Aden, in the Arabian Sea, even near Sukatra Island. I mean, about more than a thousand kilometres away from the area that’s under the control of Yemeni armed forces here in Sana’a. So they don’t need to be by the sea to control the Bab el-Mandeb’. What began as a civil conflict has now pulled in regional powers, global shipping lanes and linkages to the Iran war. As the battle moves north to recapture coastal areas on the Red Sea and towards Sana’a, the question is whether this offensive can change the balance of a war that has already lasted more than a decade. Osama Mejaveed, Al-Jazeera.” What this means in practice is that Turkiye and Pakistan will now immediately deploy troops to Saudi Arabia. This leaves both Iran, and its proxy Houthi militia in Yemen, drastically outgunned. The strategic value of this mutual defence pact is clarified in the video below. Click to play: “Saudi Arabia just assembled a multinational army, Turkey, Pakistan, Egypt, and 11 more, to fight for the Bab al-Mandeb, one of the most critical waterways on the planet. Here’s why. The Strait of Hormuz had already been effectively shut down by the U.S.-Iran War, forcing Saudi Arabia to reroute its oil exports through Red Sea ports instead. Then on July 20th, Yemen’s Ansarullah, also known as the Houthi Movement, announced a naval blockade against Saudi shipping in that same Red Sea. Cutting off the one route Riyadh had left, within days a Saudi-linked tanker was hit. Brent crude surged past $100 a barrel, and Saudi Arabia struck back with airstrikes on healthy infrastructure at Hodeidah. Ten days later, Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Defense unveiled something it hadn’t built in years. A multinational maritime defense alliance, headquartered in Riyadh, tasked with protecting the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, the Red Sea, and the Gulf of Aden. Forty-three nations showed up to the founding meeting. Fourteen signed on immediately, including Turkey, Egypt, Pakistan, Jordan, Qatar, Bahrain, and Nigeria. The coalition calls itself purely defensive, aimed at no single country. But look at who stayed away. The UAE and Oman, the two Gulf states that actually sit on Hormuz, didn’t join, despite facing the same threat from Iran. And notice what this allian
