Saudi Arabia Says It Intercepted Missiles Near Mecca, Medina; Houthis Deny Targeting Holy Cities

Saudi Arabia's civil defence agency said on Saturday that it had intercepted missiles and responded to shrapnel falling in the Mecca and Medina regions, an account the Houthi movement in Yemen rejected as a "great and huge lie".

In a post on X, the General Directorate of Saudi Civil Defence said the shrapnel came from "two ballistic missiles launched by the terrorist Houthi militia towards the regions of Mecca Al-Mukarramah and Medina Al-Munawwarah". The agency said fragments fell in Wadi Mughamas outside Mecca, in the Al-Nuzha neighbourhood of Jeddah, in Wadi Jalil in Taif, and at an uninhabited site in Rabigh. It did not report any casualties or give details of damage.

Hours earlier, the Civil Defence — a government agency under the Ministry of Interior responsible for protecting civilians and property during emergencies and disasters — had warned of "potential danger" in four western provinces, including Mecca, and instructed residents to "proceed to the nearest safe place".

Mecca and Medina are the two holiest cities in Islam, and any military activity near them is a matter of deep sensitivity for Muslims worldwide. Millions of pilgrims travel to both cities every year.

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree denied that the group had aimed at the holy sites. "What the Saudi enemy is promoting about our forces targeting the holy areas of Mecca and Medina is a great and huge lie," he said.

The exchange came after the Houthis said they had struck several targets in Saudi Arabia over Friday and Saturday, including three airports, two oil facilities, a pipeline and an air base. Saree said the group targeted Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport "in two phases", along with airports in the Dammam and Najran regions. He said the group also struck the southern Khamis Mushait air base and "crude oil pumping stations and the crude oil pipeline from east to west".

There was no immediate independent confirmation of the extent of the damage from any of the reported strikes, and the claims by both sides could not be verified.

Separately, Yemen's internationally recognised government, which is backed by the Saudi-led coalition, said on Saturday that the Houthis had fired three ballistic missiles at coast guard facilities in the southern port city of Aden.

The escalation has effectively undone the 2022 truce mediated by the United Nations, which had largely stopped the coalition and the Houthis from carrying out cross-border strikes. The coalition intervened in Yemen in 2015 in support of the government after the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, which the group still controls. The conflict has caused what the UN describes as one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

Saturday's developments mark a sharp expansion of the conflict's front lines, bringing hostilities closer to densely populated areas of western Saudi Arabia and to sites of religious significance. Aid agencies have repeatedly warned that any further widening of the war would worsen conditions for civilians in Yemen, where millions depend on humanitarian assistance.