 The abdication only further emboldened Ibn Saud to march upon Mecca, entering the city of 5 December 1924.The abandonment of the city left behind a cache of weapons in the Qishla of Mecca which were recovered by Saudi forces.Ibn Saud declared that Ali bin Hussein was to leave Hejaz as a pre-requisite for peace and that the invasion of Hejaz was to 'guarantee the liberty of pilgrimage and to settle the destiny of the Holy Land in a manner satisfactory to the Islamic world'.