Five weeks ago, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Turkey signed the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement. An armed attack on one, the text says, is an attack on all. Commentators called it an Islamic NATO.

This week it was tested. On Sept. 8, Houthi missiles and drones hit four Saudi cities, wounding 73 civilians and halting operations at energy facilities. Two days later, the Houthis took Mokha, their largest territorial gain since the 2022 truce. On Friday, they took Dhubab and crossed to Perim, the island splitting the Bab el-Mandeb at its narrowest point. A military official told AFP they also took Greater and Lesser Hanish, leaving all four of the strait’s strategic islands in their hands, and that the takeover of the Bab el-Mandeb was complete. Tareq Saleh, deputy chairman of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, acknowledged losing Mokha and said Iran had planned and backed the attack. The United Nations counted at least 46,000 people displaced.