{"id":4244,"date":"2026-11-12T09:03:46","date_gmt":"2026-11-12T04:03:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=4244"},"modified":"2026-11-12T09:03:46","modified_gmt":"2026-11-12T04:03:46","slug":"saudi-arabia-says-debris-from-intercepted-missiles-falls-in-mecca-region","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=4244","title":{"rendered":"Saudi Arabia says debris from intercepted missiles falls in Mecca region"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><strong>Saudi Arabia said debris from two ballistic missiles \u200bintercepted by its air defences fell in the Mecca \u200cregion on Wednesday, as the kingdom and Yemen\u2019s Iran-aligned Houthis continued to trade attacks in an escalating conflict.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Saudi state television identified the locations as Sabuhah village, about 35 km northeast of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, and Wadi al-Maghmas, about 21 km east of the mosque.<\/p>\n<p>The missiles were launched towards the region and intercepted and destroyed, \u200bSaudi Arabia\u2019s civil defence said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>The Houthis have <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"link--external\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/saudi-air-defences-intercept-three-houthi-cruise-missiles-launched-toward-riyadh-2026-11-11\/\">repeatedly denied<\/a> \u200bSaudi accusations that they target Mecca and Medina, Islam\u2019s two holiest cities, saying their military operations are directed at military and strategic targets elsewhere in Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n<p>Mecca, \u200bhome to sites sacred to Muslims worldwide, is the focal \u200bpoint of the annual hajj pilgrimage, one of the five pillars of Islam, which \u200cmillions \u2060of Muslims undertake each year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis hostile targeting of civilian objects constitutes a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and reflects the dangerous hostile approach pursued by the Houthi militia,\u201d Saudi Arabia\u2019s civil defence said \u200bearly on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>The \u200bHouthis seized \u2060Yemen\u2019s capital Sanaa in 2014, prompting Saudi Arabia to intervene militarily the following year in support of \u200bthe internationally recognised government.<\/p>\n<p>A UN-brokered truce in 2022 largely \u200bfroze \u2060the conflict.<\/p>\n<p>Still, hostilities resumed earlier this year, with the Houthis launching missile and drone attacks on Saudi territory and Riyadh carrying out airstrikes \u2060in \u200bYemen.<\/p>\n<p>The latest escalation has threatened the strategic <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"link--external\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/why-is-bab-el-mandeb-strait-so-important-2026-09-10\/\">Bab \u200bel-Mandeb Strait<\/a>, a key shipping route linking the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Saudi Arabia said debris from two ballistic missiles \u200bintercepted by its air defences fell in the Mecca \u200cregion on Wednesday, as the kingdom and Yemen\u2019s Iran-aligned Houthis continued to trade attacks in an escalating conflict. Saudi state television identified the locations as Sabuhah village, about 35 km northeast of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, and Wadi al-Maghmas, about 21 km east of the mosque. The missiles were launched towards the region and intercepted and destroyed, \u200bSaudi Arabia\u2019s civil defence said in a statement. The Houthis have repeatedly denied \u200bSaudi accusations&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4244\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}