Saudi Arabia’s air defences intercepted and destroyed a Houthi drone before it entered the prohibited airspace around Makkah, the Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen’s Houthis said, while a representative of the group denied targeting the holy city.
Saudi-led coalition spokesman Turki al-Malki said that the drone had been launched by the Houthis and was intercepted before entering the restricted airspace of Makkah. In a statement posted on X, he said that Royal Saudi Air Defence Forces had “intercepted and destroyed a hostile drone” launched by what he called the “Terrorist Houthi Militia”.
Houthis rejected the Saudi account. Hazem al-Assad, a member of the Houthi politburo, described the claim that Makkah had been targeted as a “worn-out lie” that had been used before.
“The claims about targeting Makkah are a worn-out lie that has been used before and no longer fools anyone,” he said.
The conflicting claims came as Saudi Arabia faced a series of attacks linked to the wider conflict involving the Houthis. The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) condemned what it described as a Houthi attack on Makkah and attacks on the Madinah region.
In a statement posted on X, the OIC said its General Secretariat “condemns the heinous attacks carried out by the Houthi group against the city of Makkah and the Madinah region, as well as its ongoing aggression against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia”.
Pakistan also condemned Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia during a United Nations (UN) Security Council session.
Pakistan’s Permanent Ambassador to the UN, Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, said that the Houthi military escalation inside Yemen, continued attacks against Saudi Arabia and developments along Yemen’s Red Sea coast had brought the conflict to a “dangerous juncture”.
“Pakistan condemns, in the strongest terms, all Houthi attacks against the kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” Ahmad said, adding that Pakistan would “continue its earnest efforts at the highest levels to help diffuse tensions and advance peace and stability in the region.”
