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A Saudi-led military coalition said Thursday that Yemen's Houthi movement carried out a drone attack this week on a power distribution station in Medina, knocking out one transformer but leaving the broader electricity network unaffected.
The coalition said an investigation into the wreckage of the drone used in Tuesday's strike confirmed the Houthis had planned and executed the attack. It identified the targeted facility as a station that supplies power to the Prophet's Mosque, one of the holiest sites in Islam.
A Houthi military source, speaking to the Houthi-run Saba news agency, rejected the coalition's account, calling it a "lie." The source said the accusation was an attempt by Saudi Arabia to deflect from its earlier, unsubstantiated claim that the Houthis had targeted Mecca.
That earlier claim centered on an incident two weeks prior in which Saudi Arabia said it intercepted and destroyed a Houthi drone south of Mecca before it could enter the city's restricted airspace. The coalition characterized the episode as the second Houthi attempt to target Mecca since 2017.
The Houthis denied targeting Mecca or any other Islamic holy site in that incident as well.
The coalition described the Medina attack as part of a pattern of repeated Houthi attempts to strike the two holiest sites in Islam and "provoke" Muslims around the world. It said it would continue taking measures to protect the holy sites and the pilgrims who visit them.
The dispute marks the most serious escalation in fighting between Saudi Arabia and the Iran-aligned Houthi movement since a United Nations-brokered truce in 2022 largely halted cross-border attacks between the two sides.
Hostilities resumed this year after the Houthis declared a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia in July and began striking Saudi territory and shipping. The Houthi movement has also made significant territorial gains along Yemen's Red Sea coast in the same period.
Saudi Arabia has responded to the renewed hostilities with airstrikes inside Yemen and continued backing for Yemeni government forces fighting to roll back Houthi advances.
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