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Saudi Civil Defense issued a series of brief alerts Thursday, including for Mecca, home to Islam's holiest sites, in warnings that typically indicate a potential missile or drone threat.
"A warning has been issued by the National Early Warning Platform in Mecca City to alert of a potential danger," Saudi Civil Defense said, with separate warnings also issued for the Red Sea governorate of Yanbu and the Taif, Jeddah and Tabuk regions.
The alerts were lifted a few minutes later. Saudi Civil Defense wrote on X: "Alert: The danger has passed in Mecca City. For your safety, continue following Civil Defense instructions and avoid gathering and filming. In case of emergency, call (911)."
The Saudi-led coalition for Yemen says it intercepted and destroyed 6 ballistic missiles fired by Houthis toward Saudi Arabia.
"Air defense thwarted an attempt to target Taif and Yanbu. Escalations and violations by the terrorist Houthi militia will be dealt with firmly," Turki al-Maliki, the Official Spokesman for the Coalition Forces, wrote on X.
Maliki did not immediately provide details on whether the interceptions caused any damage.
In recent weeks, such alerts have often preceded attacks by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi movement.
Last week, Riyadh accused the group of targeting Mecca for the first time since 2017 with a drone that was subsequently downed, an accusation the Houthis have denied.
Days later, the group struck the Saudi capital, Riyadh, for the first time in years, marking a new escalation in the conflict.
The Houthis, who have been at war with a Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen's internationally recognized government since 2015, have ramped up attacks against the kingdom in recent weeks, drawing Yemen further into the wider Middle East war.
Earlier this month, the group seized control of strategic coastal areas overlooking the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, vital to Saudi oil exports, after capturing territory from Saudi-backed government forces.
A fragile 2022 truce between the Houthis and Yemen's government collapsed in July after the group allowed an Iranian plane to land in Sanaa in defiance of Riyadh's control over Yemeni airspace, triggering a new wave of attacks; the Houthis subsequently declared a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia and began targeting its tankers and territory.
The group's territorial gains have cemented Iran and its allies' hold over two key waterways that the wider Gulf, including top crude exporter Saudi Arabia, relies on to ship out oil.
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