Saudi Arabia said it shot down a Houthi drone near Mecca, Islam’s holiest city, on Tuesday, drawing swift regional condemnation of the Iran-backed Yemeni rebel group.
Turki al-Maliki, spokesperson for the Saudi-led Coalition Forces, accused the group of targeting the city, saying it was the first time in almost a decade that the Houthis had targeted Mecca.
The claim was strongly denied by the Houthis, who follow the Zaydi branch of Shiite Islam and also revere Mecca as a sacred city.
The group’s military spokesman Yahya Saree said early Wednesday that its targets were Saudi oil facilities and military bases “far removed from the holy places.”
“The fabrications and lies propagated by the criminal Saudi regime regarding targeting Mecca cannot deceive anyone,” Saree said, adding that “there is no threat whatsoever from Yemen to the holy sites.”
Saudi Arabia said it intercepted and destroyed the drone “before it entered” Mecca’s restricted airspace, without specifying how close it was to the city.
The rebel group’s swift advance in Yemen and attacks on neighboring Saudi Arabia in recent weeks have put the Gulf Arab kingdom in an increasingly difficult position, facing the prospect of being drawn into a wider conflict, as the US-Iran war drags on.
Credit: cnn.com
