The Makkah pact is not a Sunni NATO — the Middle East is testing a security order of its own

Two days after Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan signed the pact on 7 August, Yemen’s Houthis said they’d struck Saudi Aramco’s Jazan refinery with a drone. That single response undercuts the easiest, laziest read of the Makkah agreement: that this is a “Sunni Muslim defence pact” built to counter Shia-majority Iran. Yes, Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan are all Sunni-majority states — that’s just a fact. Not a replacement for NATO — or WashingtonIt’s tempting to read this as Türkiye drifting from NATO or Saudi Arabia stepping back from Washington. Saudi Arabia brings economic weight and reach across the Arab and Islamic world.