Saudi says Houthis targeted Mecca
The Saudi-led coalition battling Yemen’s Houthis accused the rebels on Wednesday of targeting Islam’s holy city Mecca, sparking outrage across the Muslim world and deepening the conflict roiling the region.
Fresh fighting between the Iran-backed Houthis and Saudi-backed Yemeni government has dragged in Riyadh, with the Houthis declaring a maritime blockade on the kingdom and targeting its ships in the Red Sea.
Last week’s lightning offensive saw the group seize control of the entirety of Yemen’s Red Sea coast and the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a vital artery for Saudi oil exports as the wider Middle East war chokes off the Strait of Hormuz strategic shipping route.
The Houthis swiftly rejected as a “lie” Riyadh’s report that it shot down a drone from the rebels heading toward the Saudi city of Mecca, which attracts millions of pilgrims each year.
“The claims about targeting Mecca are a worn-out lie that has been used before and no longer fools anyone,” Hazem al-Assad from the Houthis’ politburo wrote on X.
The Saudi coalition vowed retaliation, warning that the security of holy sites was a “red line.”
“The security of the Two Holy Mosques and the pilgrims is a red line, and the Joint Forces Command of the Coalition will not hesitate to take the necessary and deterrent measures against the Terrorist Houthi Militia,” the coalition said in a statement shared by spokesperson Turki al-Maliki on X.
Missile, drone attacks
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation—a bloc of 57 Muslim countries—condemned the “heinous” attack.
Saudi Arabia had issued brief alerts on Tuesday over possible attacks in Mecca and across swathes of the kingdom’s south, which borders Yemen.
The alerts, including the first one issued in Mecca since the Middle East war erupted in February, came a day after a wave of ballistic missile and drone attacks launched from Yemen wounded 13 people in the kingdom’s south.
Fighting flared in July when the Houthis, who have for years controlled swathes of northern Yemen, launched a large-scale offensive against Yemeni government forces.
The conflict in the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest country has forced 82,000 people to flee their homes since the start of September, according to the United Nations.
Yemen’s permanent representative at the UN, Abdullah al-Saadi, said Yemenis were fighting to restore “national institutions across every inch of their land” and called on the international community to take action against the Houthis.
Yemen’s plea came as Saudi Arabia and Egypt called for free navigation in the Red Sea following the Houthi’s offensive in the vital waterway.
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