Saudi Arabia’s air defences intercepted and destroyed a Houthi drone south of Mecca on Tuesday before it entered restricted airspace over Islam’s holiest city, a spokesperson for the Saudi-led military coalition fighting the group in Yemen said.
The security of Islam’s two holiest mosques and of pilgrims was a “red line”, coalition spokesperson Turki al-Malki said early on Wednesday, warning that the coalition would take necessary deterrent measures against the Houthis. He described the incident as an attempt to frighten worshippers and harm civilians.
Saudi Arabia issued security alerts across parts of the country on Tuesday, including in Mecca, Taif and Jeddah. The alert in Mecca was lifted within minutes. It was the first such alert in the holy city in nearly a decade, since what the coalition said was a ballistic missile launch in July 2017.
A Houthi military source rejected the claim in a statement to Yemen’s SABA news agency, saying it “categorically” denied any threat from Yemen directed at Mecca or other holy sites. Houthi official Hazem al-Assad wrote on X that “the claims about targeting Mecca are a worn-out lie that has been used before and no longer fools anyone.”
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, made up of 57 Muslim-majority countries, condemned what it called a “heinous” attack on Islam’s holy city and blamed the Houthis.
The interception followed a week of escalating attacks. The coalition said Houthi strikes on the Saudi cities of Khamis Mushait, Abha and Taif on Tuesday injured 13 people, and pledged a firm response. The Houthis announced strikes on a Saudi airbase on Monday, which they said were retaliation for airstrikes on Yemen.
The Houthis declared a blockade on Saudi shipping in July and have seized control of parts of Yemen’s Red Sea coast overlooking the Bab al-Mandab strait, a route used for oil exports rerouted from the Strait of Hormuz. A UN-brokered truce in April 2022 had largely halted attacks on Saudi territory before the recent surge, part of a conflict dating to Saudi Arabia’s 2015 intervention in Yemen. The latest exchanges follow earlier Saudi strikes on Houthi sites in Hodeidah.
Mecca is home to the Kaaba, toward which some two billion Muslims face during daily prayers. Saudi Arabia welcomed around 1.7 million pilgrims for the Hajj in late May. Mecca welcomed more than 11.7 million pilgrims for Umrah between September and October 2025.