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King Salman Condemns Houthi Attacks Aimed at Mecca

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Saudi King Salman branded Yemen's Houthis a 'terrorist militia' and accused them of targeting Mecca, in a rare intervention amid escalating attacks.

Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has denounced Yemen's Houthi movement as a "terrorist militia" and charged the Iran-aligned group with repeated attempts to strike the holy city of Mecca. The 90-year-old monarch delivered the remarks at a cabinet session on Tuesday, according to the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA).

The statement stood out because the king rarely weighs in on unfolding events, having handed most routine governance to his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. King Salman described the reported attempts on Mecca as a "heinous crime" and an affront to Muslims everywhere, SPA said. The city is home to the Kaaba, the site Muslims face in prayer.

The king's words followed a Saudi announcement last week that the kingdom had shot down a drone flown by the Houthis toward Mecca. The group rejected the claim outright, and its leader, Abdel-Malik al-Houthi, dismissed it as "a heinous lie." The episode triggered a security alert in Mecca for the first time in close to a decade.

King Salman praised the armed forces and security agencies for "defending the homeland and resolutely confronting any aggression against the holy sites, pilgrims, citizens and residents of the Kingdom," as quoted by the state agency.

He also pointed to recent diplomacy, referencing a meeting the crown prince held in Cairo last week with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. The king noted his own exchanges with French President Emmanuel Macron, which centered on steadying the region and safeguarding the security and free movement of maritime traffic.

Missiles Reach Riyadh

The condemnation came against a backdrop of intensifying strikes. This month's Houthi assaults have amounted to one of the most serious challenges to Saudi security in years. Houthi missiles and drones have increasingly been aimed at Saudi cities, energy sites and vessels, forming a further front in a broader regional confrontation that erupted with the United States and Israel's war on Iran in February.

On Saturday, forces from the Saudi-led coalition operating in Yemen said they had brought down a ballistic missile launched by the Houthis toward the capital, Riyadh. A plume of dark smoke rose from a fuel storage zone at King Khalid International Airport in the city.

The fighting carries consequences beyond the kingdom's borders. Houthi forces have extended their reach across the whole of Yemen's Red Sea coastline. That stretch of water has served as a backup shipping lane for Saudi oil exports while the Strait of Hormuz has been blockaded, putting global energy flows at greater risk.

A Three-Nation Pact

Responding to the mounting pressure, Saudi Arabia joined Turkiye and Pakistan last month in signing the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement. Under its terms, an armed strike against any one of the three signatories is to be regarded as an attack on all of them.

The pact ties the kingdom's security to two other major Muslim-majority states at a moment when its own defenses are being tested by cross-border fire from Yemen. King Salman's direct entry into the debate signaled the weight Riyadh now attaches to the threat, particularly where it touches the country's most sacred ground.

King Salman, Houthis, Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Mohammed bin Salman, Riyadh, Mecca Joint Defence Agreement

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