A security alert has been issued in Islam’s holiest city. Saudi Arabia has said a drone launched by the Houthis towards Mecca has been intercepted and destroyed, in an escalation that could threaten the holy city. Saudi-led coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki said the Royal Saudi Air Defense Forces intercepted the hostile drone before it entered restricted airspace on Tuesday afternoon. scare worshipers and harm civilians, warning that the safety of the two holy mosques and pilgrims is a “red line.” The Houthis have previously denied attacking Mecca, saying they are not targeting holy sites. The same alert was activated for Taif and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia’s second largest city. In a statement to Yemen’s SABA news agency on Tuesday, a Houthi military source strongly rejected the claim that Houthi forces pose a threat to the city of Mecca or other Islamic holy sites. “We categorically deny that there is any threat from Yemen directed at the city of Mecca or any other holy site,” the source said, condemning what he described as “misinformation.” resurgence of a conflict dating back to 2015, when Saudi Arabia intervened in Yemen after the Houthis seized Sana’a and overthrew the internationally recognized government. A U.N.-brokered truce in April 2022 largely halted Houthi attacks on Saudi territory, but hostilities have escalated again since the group declared a blockade on Saudi shipping in July and gained control of critical nodes on the country’s Bab al-Mandeb coast. In early September, Iran’s allied group launched missiles and drones at sites across Saudi Arabia, marking a drastic escalation in fighting. Riyadh has accused the Houthi rebels of launching attacks on civilian and economic sites in the kingdom. The Saudi-led coalition said it will respond “firmly” to Houthi attacks in urban areas that injured 13 people in the Saudi cities of Khamis Mushait, Abha and Taif on Tuesday. Two billion Muslims around the world face the Kaaba during their daily prayers. This year, Saudi Arabia welcomed around 1.7 million Muslims for the Hajj season in late May, while the country was vulnerable to direct attacks. The Hajj is considered one of the five pillars of Islam, necessary for Muslims to fulfill once in their lifetime. Throughout the year, millions of pilgrims travel to Mecca to perform the optional Umrah pilgrimage. Last fall, Mecca welcomed more than 11.7 million pilgrims. for Umrah between September and October 2025. The Hajj was only restricted during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, when Saudi Arabia banned foreign Muslims from performing the pilgrimage to help prevent the spread of the virus. It remains to be seen whether the attacks on Saudi Arabia will affect the pilgrimage to Mecca.
