The security of the Two Holy Mosques and the pilgrims is a red line
\n RIYADH
\nThe Saudi-led coalition battling Yemen\u2019s Houthis accused the rebels on Wednesday of targeting the holy city of Makkah, sparking outrage across the Muslim world and deepening the conflict roiling the region. Fresh fighting between the Houthis and the Yemeni government has dragged in Riyadh, with the Houthis declaring a maritime blockade on the kingdom and targeting its ships in the Red Sea.
\nLast week\u2019s lightning offensive saw the group seize control of the entirety of Yemen\u2019s Red Sea coast and the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a vital artery for Saudi oil exports as the wider Middle East war chokes off the Strait of Hormuz strategic shipping route. The Houthis swiftly rejected as a \u201clie\u201d Riyadh\u2019s report that it shot down a drone from the rebels heading towards Makkah, which attracts millions of pilgrims each year.
\n\u201cThe claims about targeting Makkah are a worn-out lie that has been used before and no longer fools anyone,\u201d Hazem al-Assad from the Houthis\u2019 politburo wrote on X. The Saudi coalition vowed retaliation, warning that the security of holy sites was a \u201cred line\u201d.
\n\u201cThe security of the Two Holy Mosques and the pilgrims is a red line, and the Joint Forces Command of the Coalition will not hesitate to take the necessary and deterrent measures against the Terrorist Houthi Militia,\u201d the coalition said in a statement shared by spokesman Turki al-Maliki.
\nThe Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) \u2014 a bloc of 57 Muslim countries \u2014 condemned the \u201cheinous\u201d attack. Saudi Arabia had issued brief alerts on Tuesday over possible attacks in Makkah and across swathes of the kingdom\u2019s south, which borders Yemen.
\nThe alerts, including the first one issued in Makkah since the Middle East war erupted in February, came a day after a wave of ballistic missile and drone attacks launched from Yemen wounded 13 people in the kingdom\u2019s south.
\nFighting flared in July when the Houthis, who have for years controlled swathes of northern Yemen, launched a large-scale offensive against Yemeni government forces. The conflict in the Arabian Peninsula\u2019s poorest country has forced 82,000 people to flee their homes since the start of September, according to the United Nations.
\nYemen\u2019s permanent representative at the UN, Abdullah al-Saadi, said Yemenis were fighting to restore \u201cnational institutions across every inch of their land\u201d, and called on the international community to take action against the Houthis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The security of the Two Holy Mosques and the pilgrims is a red line RIYADH The Saudi-led coalition battling Yemen\u2019s Houthis accused the rebels on Wednesday of targeting the holy city of Makkah, sparking outrage across the Muslim world and deepening the conflict roiling the region. Fresh fighting between the Houthis and the Yemeni government […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":567574,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-567554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n