Source : Reuters (illustrative graphic)
RIYADH, November 12, 2026 – Saudi Arabia said debris from two ballistic missiles intercepted by its air defences fell in the Mecca region on Wednesday, as the kingdom and Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement continued to exchange attacks, Reuters reported.
The Houthis launched the missiles towards the region, and Saudi air defences intercepted and destroyed them, the Saudi civil defence said in a statement published early on Thursday. Debris fell in several locations, including the village of Sabuhah (also spelled Sabouha), the civil defence said. CNN Arabic, citing the statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency, quoted the civil defence as saying its teams responded to the falling fragments. The statement did not report any casualties.
“This hostile targeting of civilian objects constitutes a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and reflects the dangerous hostile approach pursued by the Houthi militia,” the civil defence said. It added that the relevant authorities responded immediately and applied all approved procedures to ensure the safety of lives and property.
Arab News reported that the Saudi-led Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen had earlier announced that air defences intercepted and destroyed two Houthi ballistic missiles in the kingdom’s western region. Earlier on Wednesday, the coalition said two Houthi drones had been intercepted over the Mecca and southern regions, and that three cruise missiles fired towards the Riyadh region had been destroyed, according to the coalition’s spokesman, Major General Turki Al-Maliki, as quoted by Arab News.
The Houthis had not commented on the latest incident when Reuters reported it. The group has repeatedly denied Saudi accusations that it targets Mecca and Medina, Islam’s two holiest cities, saying its military operations are directed at military and strategic targets elsewhere in Saudi Arabia, Reuters said.
Arab News noted that the Houthis have targeted the Mecca region before. It said the kingdom condemned the group last month for launching a drone towards the holy city, and recalled that in 2017 Saudi air defence forces intercepted a ballistic missile launched towards Mecca, which the coalition said was shot down over the Al-Wasliya area of Taif province, about 69 kilometres away.
The Houthis seized Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, in 2014, prompting Saudi Arabia to intervene militarily the following year in support of the internationally recognised government, Reuters reported. A United Nations-brokered truce in 2022 largely froze the conflict, but hostilities resumed earlier this year, with the Houthis launching missile and drone attacks on Saudi territory and Riyadh carrying out air strikes in Yemen.
Reuters said the latest escalation has threatened the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a key shipping route linking the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. Arab News described the Houthi attacks as part of a wider regional war between the United States and Israel on one side and Iran, a key backer of the Houthis, on the other.
The Houthi claims and the Saudi accounts of interceptions could not be independently verified beyond the official statements and the media reports cited above. LNA will update this story if the Houthis respond or if further details emerge.
Credit : Reuters’ X
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