Muslims perform Umrah at the Grand Mosque in the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on September 14, 2026 [Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters]
Saudi Arabia says it intercepted and destroyed a drone launched by the Houthis towards Mecca, raising fresh concerns over the security of Islam’s holiest city.
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Turki al-Maliki, spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition, said the Royal Saudi Air Defence Forces brought down the hostile drone on Tuesday evening before it entered restricted airspace.
Al-Maliki denounced the launch as an effort to terrorise worshippers and endanger civilians, saying the safety of the two holy mosques and pilgrims was a “red line”.
The Houthis have previously rejected accusations that they targeted Mecca, insisting that holy sites are not among their targets.
Security alerts
Saudi authorities activated a security alert in Mecca on Tuesday for the first time since the Houthis made their previous attempt to target the sacred area in 2017.
The warning over a possible threat in Mecca was cancelled within minutes. Authorities also activated the alert in Taif and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia’s second-largest city.
A Houthi military source told Yemen’s SABA news agency on Tuesday that the group categorically rejected any suggestion its forces threatened 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 sites,” the source said, dismissing the accusation as “misinformation”.
The renewed attacks represent a sharp escalation in a war that began in 2015, when Saudi Arabia intervened in Yemen after the Houthis captured Sanaa and removed the internationally recognised government.
A UN-brokered truce reached in April 2022 largely brought Houthi attacks on Saudi territory to a halt. Fighting has intensified again since the group announced a blockade on Saudi shipping in July and took control of key points along the kingdom’s Bab al-Mandeb coastline.
In early September, the Iran-aligned group fired missiles and launched drones at locations across Saudi Arabia, marking a significant deterioration in the conflict. Riyadh has accused the Houthi rebels of attacking civilian and economic targets inside the kingdom.
The Saudi-led coalition said it would respond “firmly” after Houthi strikes on urban areas injured 13 people in the Saudi cities of Khamis Mushait, Abha and Taif on Tuesday.
Why is the alert on Mecca significant?
The alert was the first to be issued in Mecca in nearly a decade.
Mecca contains the Kaaba, the holiest site in Islam. About two billion Muslims worldwide turn towards it during their daily prayers.
Saudi Arabia hosted about 1.7 million Muslims during this year’s Hajj season in late May, even as the country faced the risk of direct attacks.
Hajj, one of Islam’s five pillars, is an obligation that Muslims are expected to fulfil once in their lifetime if they are able to do so.
Millions of worshippers also travel to Mecca throughout the year to undertake the optional Umrah pilgrimage.
Between September and October 2025, more than 11.7 million pilgrims visited Mecca to perform Umrah, according to Saudi figures.
Hajj was restricted only during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, when Saudi Arabia barred foreign Muslims from attending in an effort to contain the spread of the virus.
It is not yet clear whether the attacks against Saudi Arabia will disrupt pilgrimage arrangements in Mecca.
