ANKARA (Dispatches) -- Turkish parliament ratified the so-called “Mecca Joint Defense Agreement” with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan on Thursday, with 279 members of the 600-seat parliament voting in favor and 119 against, despite warnings from opposition parties that the pact serves a U.S.-Israeli “trap” and endangers Turkish soldiers’ lives.
The agreement was signed in August by Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, with the three countries seeking to strengthen security and defense cooperation. 
It stipulates that an armed attack against any one of the three signatories would be considered an attack against all three. The pact came as Yemen conducts retaliatory attacks against Saudi Arabia and amid a possible new escalation in the U.S.-Israeli imposed war on Iran.
“They brought this agreement to send Turkish soldiers to the deserts of Yemen,” said Murat Emir, deputy leader of opposition New Party lawmakers. 
Fuat Oktay, chairman of parliament’s foreign affairs committee and a member of Erdogan’s ruling party, said Ankara would “not be drawn into an uncontrolled process against its will,” noting that troop deployment would require separate parliamentary approval.
Last month, several Turkish political parties, including the İYİ Party, the Antalya branch of the Vatan Party and the Republican People’s Party (CHP), condemned the pact, warning it exploits Muslim sentiment to support Saudi aggression against Yemen and serve U.S. and Israeli interests. 
İYİ Party leader Musavat Dervisoglu noted the agreement’s name, “Mecca,” was chosen deliberately to appeal to religious sentiment, and called on Turks not to “fall into the trap of the U.S.-Israel alliance that has descended upon the Middle East.”
Saudi Arabia has repeatedly accused Yemen of launching drones toward Mecca and Medina, which Sana’a has vehemently rejected. Tensions heightened in July when Saudi warplanes bombed Sana’a airport. 
Yemeni forces have carried out retaliatory attacks deep inside the kingdom, declaring Saudi airspace and airports unsafe while excluding airspace over Mecca and Medina.
The war traces back to March 2015, when Saudi Arabia and a U.S.-backed coalition launched a military aggression and blockade aimed at reinstalling a favorable regime in Sana’a. 
Despite years of bombardment and advanced Western weaponry, the coalition has failed to achieve its objectives. 
Utilizing asymmetric naval capabilities including drones and missiles, Yemen has shifted from a defensive posture to an active pressure campaign designed to inflict direct economic and military costs on Riyadh until the siege is lifted, the war ends and Yemen’s full sovereignty is restored.