Saudi-led coalition says it downed a drone near Mecca as Houthis deny targeting the city
Yemen Herald News 
MECCA, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia said its air defences intercepted a drone heading toward Mecca on Tuesday evening and declared the holy city a red line.
The Houthis denied launching it.
Col. Turki al-Maliki, spokesman for the Saudi-led military coalition, said the Royal Saudi Air Defence Forces destroyed the aircraft before it entered restricted airspace over the city.
He said it was the second attempted attack on Mecca, after the group fired a ballistic missile toward the city in 2017.
The security of the two holy mosques and of pilgrims was a “red line,” al-Maliki said.
A Houthi military source rejected the account. “We categorically deny that there is any threat from Yemen directed at the city of Mecca or any other holy sites,” the source said.
Mecca lies about 1,100 kilometres (680 miles) from the Yemeni border.
Both accounts rest on the parties’ own statements. Neither the interception nor the denial has been independently confirmed, and spokespeople for the Saudi-led coalition and the Saudi government did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.
Saudi Arabia issued security alerts in parts of the country on Tuesday, including in Mecca. It was the first such alert for the city since 2017.
The Houthis have fired repeatedly into Saudi Arabia over the past week. The Saudi-led coalition said missiles and drones targeted Khamis Mushait, Abha and Jazan, and the group said it struck King Khalid Air Base and a base at Sharurah.
The Houthis said Saudi Arabia had carried out 64 airstrikes in Taiz, Hodeidah, Marib and al-Jawf, and that their air defences had repelled an aerial squadron over Taiz. The coalition has not commented on those figures.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the reported attempt and said Pakistan and Saudi Arabia stood “unwaveringly, shoulder to shoulder.”
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation, which represents more than 57 states, said the attempt violated the sanctity of holy sites.
A defence pact signed in August between Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan has not been invoked.
Officials from Turkey and Pakistan told The Associated Press that no Saudi request for support had been received. The Turkish official said work to institutionalise the alliance had to be completed before the pact became operational.
Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the matter publicly.
President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the Houthis “called us, and they don’t want to fight with us,” adding that the group appeared focused on Saudi Arabia.
Vice President J.D. Vance said on Monday that Washington had been in “constant contact” with the Saudis and in “direct conversations with the Houthis themselves.” He called it “a very fluid and dynamic thing.”
The reported attempt came as Houthi forces extended their hold on Yemen’s Red Sea coast.
The group took the port of Mokha, in western Taiz province, last week, along with the Hodeidah districts of Hays and al-Khawkhah and the coastal town of Dhubab.
It also took Perim Island at the mouth of the Bab al-Mandab Strait, and Greater and Lesser Hanish and Zuqar Island in the middle of the Red Sea.
The government disputes the extent of the advances. Its armed forces media centre said on Sept. 13 that troops had recovered ground near Bab al-Mandab.
The Houthis have declared a blockade on Saudi shipping and said the strait is closed to certain vessels.
Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline, which carries crude from the eastern oil fields to the Red Sea, has been shut since an attack this month. Brent crude has traded above $100 a barrel.
The line runs about 1,200 kilometres from Abqaiq in the east to the port of Yanbu on the Red Sea.
The kingdom has leaned more heavily on its Red Sea export route since Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz in the war that began in February.
The UN Security Council held an emergency session on Yemen’s Red Sea coast in New York on Tuesday. France, which holds the Council presidency for September, called for it, together with Bahrain, Denmark, Greece, Latvia and the United Kingdom.
Yemen’s representative told the Council the escalation was no longer an internal matter, and described it as a threat to regional security, freedom of navigation and energy supplies.
The internationally recognised government, based in Aden, has asked the Council to take a firm position on the escalation.
The Houthis said on Wednesday, without providing evidence, that they had shot down a Saudi-led coalition F-15 over Marib. Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree did not say when. The Associated Press said it could not verify the claim.
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, travelled to Beijing this week for talks expected to cover the conflict and shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
Chinese President Xi Jinping offered Beijing’s help in ending the conflict at a BRICS summit in New Delhi at the weekend.
The International Organization for Migration has said 85,818 people have fled the fighting in Yemen, and that more than 2,000 have reached Djibouti.
Yemen’s planning ministry has registered 12,597 newly displaced families across six governorates.
More than 22 million people in Yemen need assistance, according to the UN humanitarian response plan published in March. It puts 18.3 million people at acute levels of food insecurity.
The plan seeks $2.16 billion to reach 12 million people this year.
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