The story

Saudi Arabia's air defenses destroyed a Houthi drone south of Mecca on Tuesday evening before it entered prohibited airspace over the holy city, according to Turki al-Malki, spokesperson for the Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen. The interception was the second Houthi attempt to target Mecca after a ballistic missile launch in July 2017, al-Malki said. Houthi officials denied targeting Mecca, with political bureau member Mohammed al-Farah calling the allegation an outright lie in comments carried by the Houthi-run SABA news agency.

Mecca is home to some of the holiest sites in Islam and the focal point of the annual hajj pilgrimage. Al-Malki said the security of the two holy mosques and pilgrims is a red line. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation, a 57-member body representing 1.5 billion Muslims, condemned the attack, saying the attempted strikes violate the sanctity of holy sites and mosques. Saudi Arabia issued security alerts for Mecca on Tuesday, the first time an alert had been activated in the pilgrimage city since 2017.

The incident follows a week of attacks from Iran-aligned Houthi fighters. The Houthis announced several major attacks on Saudi Arabia over the past week, including attacks on an air base on Monday that wounded 13 civilians, which they said were in retaliation for airstrikes on Yemen. The Houthis have seized control of parts of Yemen's Red Sea coast overlooking the Bab el-Mandeb, one of the world's most important shipping straits, threatening Saudi oil exports rerouted from the Strait of Hormuz. Separately, Saudi Arabia blamed a pro-Iranian movement based in Iraq for an attack on Friday that knocked out the East-West Pipeline, a 1,200-km route linking Saudi Gulf oil fields to the Red Sea.