Houthi leader denies targeting Mecca amid escalating tensions with Saudi Arabia

Yemen's Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi on Thursday rejected accusations that his group had attempted to attack the Islamic holy city of Mecca, calling the allegation "fabrication and misinformation" amid escalating hostilities with Saudi Arabia.

In a televised address carried by Houthi-run al-Masirah TV, al-Houthi said claims that Houthi forces had targeted Mecca were a "lie," arguing that the accusation was being used to mobilize broader support for what he described as "military measures imposed on Yemen."

Al-Houthi also accused Saudi Arabia of failing to advance a political settlement during the period of relative calm preceding the latest escalation.

Instead, he said, restrictions affecting Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen had been tightened, with limitations on airport operations and imports remaining among the key unresolved issues.

Al-Houthi called on supporters across Yemen to hold mass demonstrations yesterday (18 September) to reject what he described as Saudi "fabrications and slander."

His remarks came a day after Saudi Arabia publicly accused the Houthis of launching a drone toward Mecca. The Saudi-led coalition said on Wednesday that the Royal Saudi Air Defense Forces intercepted and destroyed the drone south of Mecca on Tuesday evening, before it entered the holy city's restricted airspace.

Coalition spokesperson Turki al-Malki described the security of Islam's two holiest sites and pilgrims as a "red line" and said necessary measures would be taken in response. He said the incident was the second alleged Houthi attempt to target Mecca, following what the coalition described as a ballistic missile attack on 27 July 2017.

The exchange comes amid a widening confrontation, with the Houthis making major gains along Yemen's Red Sea coast and around the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait since 3 Sept, while stepping up missile and drone attacks on Saudi military and oil facilities. The Houthis, meanwhile, say Saudi warplanes have intensified airstrikes across Yemen.

Yemen's conflict erupted in late 2014 when the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa and much of northern Yemen, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene in March 2015 in support of the internationally recognized Yemeni government.