Saudi Arabia downs Houthi missile fired towards Mecca

Yemen’s Shiite Houthi rebels and their allies fired a ballistic missile that was intercepted and destroyed 65 kilometres from Mecca, deep inside Saudi Arabia.

The rebels said their intended target was the international airport, while the kingdom said the missile flew towards the holy city before it was intercepted.

Angry Saudis soon denounced the missile attack online, with messages questioning the faith of the Houthis, as other Sunni Arab leaders in the Gulf linked the attack to Shiite power Iran.

The Gulf Cooperation Council condemned the attack as “a provocation of the feelings of all Muslims and a disrespect of the sanctity of Islamic holy places”.

The Saudi military said the missile, fired late on Thursday night from Yemen’s north-west Saada province that borders the kingdom, caused no damage. The Saudi military was able to immediately target the area where the missile was launched.

The Houthis and their allies, including forces loyal to former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh, have a stockpile of Soviet-era Scud missiles and locally designed variants. A Houthi ballistic missile fired earlier this month targeted Taif, home to Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd airbase, which also is near Mecca.

What the missile fired on Thursday was aimed at soon became a controversial question.

The Houthi-controlled satellite news channel Al Masirah reported that Yemeni rebels had fired a Volcano-1 variant missile at Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz international airport – 75 kilometres north-west of Mecca – but ­made no mention of Mecca at all.

The Houthi-controlled Saba news agency claimed the missile “directly hit” the airport and caused major destruction, ­although there were no delays or diversions affecting the airport on Friday. The Saudi military, however, said the missile was fired “towards” Mecca, without elaborating further.

The attack drew swift and broad condemnation from the Arab world, including the Arab League, the Arab Parliament and Al Azhar, Sunni Islam’s most prestigious university.

Many also immediately linked the attack to Iran, further inflaming regional sectarianism.

“The Iranian regime supports a terrorist group that launched its rockets on Mecca,” Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed wrote on Twitter. “Is this regime Islamic as it claims?”

While some analysts dispute whether Tehran directly controls the Houthis, the US navy said it had intercepted Iranian arms heading to the rebels.

In Iran, state media reported on the ballistic missile fire citing international reports, without any government comment.

Yemen plunged into civil war in September 2014 when the Houthis swept into the capital of Sanaa and overthrew the country’s internationally recognised government. In March last year, a Saudi-led coalition of Arab countries, including the UAE, began a military campaign against the Houthi forces,

All efforts by the United Nations to strike a peace deal to end the conflict have come to nothing and the country is now on the brink of famine. The most recent ceasefire — the sixth — was breached within hours of being declared.

* Agence France-Presse