The Mecca Defense Pact Looks Toothless. That Doesn’t Mean It’s Harmless.

The emerging Saudi-Turkey-Pakistan alliance threatens to trigger regional realignment. Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. (Photos by Sasha Mordovets, Burak Kara, Fabrice Coffrini / POOL / AFP via Getty Images & Unsplash). Turn any article into a podcast. Upgrade now to start listening. Members can share articles with friends & family to bypass the paywall. On Friday, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif signed the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, committing each state to treating an armed attack on one as an attack on all. Two days later, Iranian-backed Houthi forces struck an Aramco refinery in southwest Saudi Arabia with a drone, the latest in a long run of strikes on the kingdom. Sinan Ciddi is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and director of the Turkey program. Ahmad Sharawi is a senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. More We Think You’d Like