Makkah Alliance Collective Defence Moves to Implementation

Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Türkiye convened an emergency meeting of the Strategic Political and Defense Committee of the Makkah Alliance for Defense in Riyadh on October 5. The committee appointed retired Pakistani Lieutenant General Nauman Mahmood as the alliance’s first Secretary-General for a three-year term. It also approved recommendations from preceding political and military consultations.

Most importantly, the committee decided to move immediately toward practical implementation of the alliance’s collective defence commitments. The parties said they would take the necessary measures to provide agreed military forces and capabilities and ensure their rapid deployment in Saudi Arabia, subject to approved arrangements and national law. The statement condemned attacks on the Kingdom and attempted targeting of Makkah and Madinah.

On October 5, Rashad al-Alimi announced the launch of the operation under the name Dawn of Yemen, following his October 4 announcement of military operations. The October 5 announcement described the objective as restoring state institutions, retaking Sanaa and ending Houthi control.

SABA reported that the armed forces claimed control of Bab al-Mandab and Dhubab airport. Separately, a military source cited by SABA said government forces had taken Mocha with air support. A military source cited by the Houthi-aligned 26 September site specifically denied reports of advances toward Dhubab.

The U.S. Department of Energy announced on October 5 its intent to deploy up to US$150 million in Defense Production Act funding for the Alaska Energy Authority’s Beluga-Healy Transmission Project. Together with US$268 million in non-federal funding, the project has a preliminary planned investment of about US$418 million.

The project would build roughly 223 miles of new high-voltage transmission between Southcentral and Interior Alaska. DOE says the second route would strengthen reliability for communities and major military installations serving about 75% of Alaska’s population. The department also explicitly linked the infrastructure to military expansion, mining and other resource development considered important to national security.

The European Commission disbursed an additional €157 million to Moldova on October 5 during the tenth EU-Moldova Association Council in Brussels. The payment followed the Commission’s assessment that Moldova had completed 18 reforms under the Moldova Reform and Growth Facility. Performance-based financing paid under the facility has now reached about €661 million.

The Association Council also tied the funding to Moldova’s broader accession trajectory. The parties highlighted recently opened negotiating clusters, security and defence cooperation, resilience against hybrid threats and the country’s gradual integration into the EU internal market. Energy resilience was also identified as a continuing area of cooperation.

France and Germany jointly proposed on October 5 that the European Union create a faster trade-defence mechanism for systemic market distortions. President Emmanuel Macron and Chancellor Friedrich Merz sent a letter and non-paper to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen setting out the proposal.

The proposal calls for quicker use of existing trade-defence tools and two new instruments. One would address concentrated supply-chain dependencies and emerging concentration risks. The other could regulate access to the EU single market when a third country undermines fair competition through political or economic means. The documents specify that this second instrument should be country-agnostic.

The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a notice on October 5 warning foreign financial institutions that continue to do business with Iran or its financial sector about sanctions exposure under Operation Economic Outcast. OFAC updated its Iran sanctions guidance to explain how correspondent and payable-through account restrictions may be applied.

Treasury must make a finding that a foreign financial institution knowingly engaged in sanctionable activity before it imposes strict conditions or prohibits relevant U.S. correspondent accounts. If such action is taken, Treasury says it will publish the order or regulation and, where applicable, add the institution to the CAPTA List.