Saudi Arabia Reports Shrapnel Falling in Mecca and Medina After Intercepted Houthi Missiles

Saudi Arabia’s civil defence agency said on Saturday that it responded to shrapnel falling in the Mecca and Medina regions after intercepting ballistic missiles launched by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis.

The agency stated that fragments from two ballistic missiles fell in Wadi Mughamas outside Mecca, the Al-Nuzha neighbourhood in Jeddah, Wadi Jalil in Taif, and an uninhabited site in Rabigh. Mecca and Medina are Islam’s two holiest cities.

Earlier in the day, the civil defence agency had warned of “potential danger” in four western provinces, including Mecca, and instructed residents to proceed to the nearest safe place.

The incident came hours after the Houthis claimed they had targeted several Saudi sites over Friday and Saturday, including three airports, two oil facilities, a pipeline and an air base. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group had targeted King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, as well as airports in the Dammam and Najran regions, the southern Khamis Mushait air base, crude oil pumping stations and the east-to-west crude oil pipeline.

Separately, Yemen’s Saudi-backed government said on Saturday that the Houthis had fired three ballistic missiles at coast guard facilities in the southern port of Aden.

The latest exchanges mark a further escalation that has ended the 2022 UN-mediated truce, which had largely prevented cross-border strikes between the Saudi-led coalition and the Houthis.