Sirens blared in Mecca on Tuesday as the Houthis fired a drone from Yemen toward Islam’s holiest city, at least according to the Saudis.

Only a month before, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman hosted the leaders of Turkey and Pakistan to sign a joint defense agreement with great fanfare in the same city.

The Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia were the first test of that Mecca Agreement, and it doesn’t seem to have translated to improved security for the Gulf kingdom.  Its cities, ships, and infrastructure are coming under daily attack, and Turkey and Pakistan have not mobilized to defend their beleaguered ally — this despite Saudi Arabia hosting at least 8,000 Pakistani troops.

Officials from Turkey and Pakistan told The Associated Press they have not received a Saudi request for support in response to the Houthis’ escalation. If they are telling the truth, and the new alliance doesn’t warrant even a request for assistance in the moment of truth, MBS is already admitting that it doesn’t actually make his kingdom any safer.

The manifest worthlessness of the Mecca pact is only one element of an increasingly dire situation for Saudi Arabia, one that doesn’t offer any easy way out.

The emerging reality – Iranian allies firing on the kingdom across multiple borders while closing crucial shipping lanes — “puts the Saudis in serious danger,” said Yoel Guzansky, senior fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies. “This is their biggest challenge since 1990, when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait and threatened Saudi oilfields.”

“It’s a catastrophe.”

Bin Salman, widely referred to as MBS, dreams of transforming the kingdom from one based on its massive oil reserves to a modern financial capital and tourist destination.

That goal has proven harder to achieve than he expected.

MBS’s megaprojects are looking like colossal wastes of money. His flagship futuristic city NEOM is foundering, and he is facing difficulties in positioning Saudi Arabia as an AI powerhouse.

To transform the Saudi economy, MBS needed to ensure that his kingdom was secure from his arch-enemy, Iran and its axis.

Initially, he saw the over 70 years of defense agreements and weapons deals with the US as evidence that Washington would come to Saudi Arabia’s aid if the Islamic Republic attacked. But when Iran and the Houthis struck Saudi Arabia’s Abqaiq oil refinery in 2019 — cutting the kingdom’s production in half — and Trump decided not to respond militarily, MBS realized he couldn’t rely on a US shield.

Instead, he pursued diplomatic engagement with Tehran, hoping to avoid being targeted in a future war between the US and Iran.

“They have long since........

© The Times of Israel