Saudi Arabia's air defences have intercepted and destroyed a drone allegedly launched by Yemen's Houthi rebels toward Mecca, the kingdom announced on Tuesday, triggering a security alert in Islam's holiest city for the first time in nearly a decade.
The Saudi-led coalition spokesperson, Turki al-Maliki, said Royal Saudi Air Defence Forces intercepted the hostile drone before it entered the restricted airspace over Mecca on Tuesday evening. Al-Maliki condemned the incident as an attempt to frighten worshippers and harm civilians, warning that the security of the two holy mosques and pilgrims is a "red line."
The Houthis strongly denied the accusation. A Houthi military source, speaking to Yemen's SABA news agency, said: "We categorically deny that there is any threat from Yemen directed at the city of Mecca or any other holy sites," condemning what he described as "misinformation." The group has previously stated that it does not target holy sites.
A security alert was briefly activated in Mecca on Tuesday before being lifted within minutes. Similar alerts were also issued for the cities of Taif and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia's second-largest city.
Separately, several explosions were reported on the island of Qeshm, near the Strait of Hormuz, though no further details were immediately available.
The incident marks a significant escalation in a conflict that dates to 2015, when Saudi Arabia intervened in Yemen after the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa and ousted the internationally recognised government. A UN-brokered truce in April 2022 largely halted Houthi attacks on Saudi territory, but hostilities have intensified again after the group declared a blockade on Saudi shipping in July and gained control of critical positions along the country's Bab al-Mandeb coastline.
In early September, the Iran-aligned group launched missiles and drones at multiple sites across Saudi Arabia in what Riyadh described as a drastic escalation targeting civilian and economic infrastructure. On Tuesday, the Saudi-led coalition said it would respond "firmly" to Houthi strikes on urban areas that injured 13 people in the Saudi cities of Khamis Mushait, Abha, and Taif.
The activation of a security alert in Mecca carries particular weight given the city's religious significance. Mecca is home to the Kaaba, considered Islam's holiest site, toward which approximately two billion Muslims around the world face during daily prayers.
Millions of pilgrims travel to Mecca throughout the year to perform the Umrah pilgrimage. Between September and October 2025, the city welcomed more than 11.7 million pilgrims for Umrah. During the Hajj season in late May of this year, Saudi Arabia received around 1.7 million Muslims, a period during which the country was already exposed to the threat of direct strikes.
Hajj is considered one of the five pillars of Islam, obligatory for Muslims to perform at least once in their lifetime. The pilgrimage has only been restricted during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, when Saudi Arabia barred foreign Muslims from attending to limit the spread of the virus.
Whether the renewed escalation will affect future pilgrimages to Mecca remains unclear.
