Five killed as Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Houthis trade attacks

Houthi leader Abdel-Malik al-Houthi says Saudi claims that the group targeted Mecca are a ‘heinous lie’.

Emergency personnel assess damage following a reported Houthi drone attack over Taif, Saudi Arabia on September 17, 2026 [Handout photo from Saudi Press Agency (SPA)/AFP]

Intensifying attacks between Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Houthis have reportedly killed at least five people in total, including three children.

At least one person – a Yemeni resident in Saudi Arabia – was killed, and two others were injured after a Houthi drone was intercepted in Saudi Arabia’s southwestern governorate of Taif on Thursday, according to the kingdom’s civil defence agency.

It is the first death announced in Saudi Arabia this month since Yemen’s Iran-allied Houthis intensified their attacks.

In Yemen on Thursday, the Houthis said “Saudi enemy warplanes targeted three telecommunications towers” in Taiz province.

One civilian was killed in Taiz and another injured in strikes on the town of Abs, Yemen, said Houthi-linked Almasirah television.

Houthi-backed media later reported that “three children were killed and several Yemeni nationals were injured in strikes by the Saudi-backed mercenaries”, a reference to the country’s internationally recognised government forces.

Houthis reject claim they attacked Mecca

The escalation comes as Saudi Arabia said a drone was launched by the Houthis towards Mecca before being intercepted and destroyed.

“It’s a heinous lie,” Houthi leader Abdel-Malik al-Houthi said in a live televised address on Thursday, calling Saudi claims that his group would target Islam’s holiest city “a great propaganda”.

“The sanctity of Mecca is particularly important to the people of Yemen,” he said while accusing Saudi Arabia of “weaponising lies” to serve its war objectives against the Houthis.

Reporting from the Yemeni capital Sanaa, Al Jazeera’s Yousef Mawry said: “Al-Houthi’s speech is not just directed towards the Yemeni people; it is directed to the world to set the record straight that the Houthis did not target the holy city of Mecca, as the Saudis claim.”

In his address, al-Houthi also said Saudi Arabia had initiated the latest round of conflict in Yemen and that Houthi forces are acting defensively.

Meanwhile, Rashad al-Alimi, the head of Yemen’s Saudi-backed Presidential Leadership Council, said that Houthi forces are suffering heavy blows on the fronts in Taiz, Marib, Lahj, al-Jawf, Hajjah, al-Bayda al-Dhale.

In a meeting with the French ambassador to Yemen, al-Alimi said that gains made by the Houthis along the Red Sea coast are temporary, the state-run Saba news agency reported.

A Houthi supporter sports a poster of the group’s leader, Abdel-Malik al-Houthi, in his dagger’s belt, during a rally against the Saudi-led coalition [File: Khaled Abdullah/Reuters]

Aggression against Mecca ‘a condemned act’

Esmaeil Baghaei, Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, said in a statement on X on Thursday that any aggression against Islamic holy sites, particularly Mecca, “is a condemned act”.

But he added that “a mere claim” of intercepting a drone “en route to Mecca” is not enough to accuse the Houthis of the act.

“Nor should we forget that our region has witnessed numerous instances of ‘false flag’ operations, particularly in recent months,” Baghaei said while pointing at Israel.

Meanwhile, China ⁠has privately asked Iranian officials to help rein in the ⁠Houthis after Saudi Arabia appealed to Beijing following recent Houthi attacks, anonymous sources in Iran told the Reuters news agency.

Beijing publicly called for restraint, dialogue and the restoration of safe navigation, but its private message went further than that, Reuters reported.

The escalation is also threatening to draw in other regional actors – specifically Saudi defence partners Pakistan and Turkiye, which signed a joint defence agreement with the kingdom last month.

Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said the time has come to implement the Mecca agreement with Saudi Arabia and Turkiye due to recent Houthi attacks.

Asif’s comments to Pakistani media on Thursday were made as Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he’d held a phone conversation with Pakistan’s army chief Asim Munir to discuss “regional developments”.

胡塞武装领导人阿卜杜勒-马利克·胡塞表示，沙特阿拉伯声称该组织以麦加为袭击目标的说法是“弥天大谎”。

2026年9月17日，沙特阿拉伯塔伊夫发生胡塞武装无人机袭击事件后，紧急救援人员正在评估损失。[沙特通讯社（SPA）/法新社提供的照片]

据报道，沙特阿拉伯和也门胡塞武装之间不断升级的冲突已造成至少五人死亡，其中包括三名儿童。

据沙特阿拉伯民防部门称，周四，一架胡塞武装无人机在沙特阿拉伯西南部塔伊夫省被拦截，造成至少一人死亡（该人为居住在沙特阿拉伯的也门公民），另有两人受伤。

这是也门胡塞武装（伊朗支持的武装组织）加强袭击以来，沙特阿拉伯本月宣布的首例死亡病例。

周四，也门胡塞武装称“沙特敌方战机袭击了塔伊兹省的三座电信塔”。

据与胡塞武装有关联的阿尔马西拉电视台报道，也门塔伊兹一名平民在对阿布斯镇的袭击中丧生，另有一名平民受伤。

胡塞武装支持的媒体随后报道称，“沙特支持的雇佣兵发动袭击，造成三名儿童死亡，多名也门国民受伤”，这里指的是也门国际公认的政府军。

胡塞武装否认袭击麦加的说法

沙特阿拉伯方面表示，胡塞武装向麦加发射了一架无人机，随后该无人机被拦截并摧毁。此后，局势进一步升级。

“这是一个弥天大谎，”胡塞武装领导人阿卜杜勒-马利克·胡塞周四在电视直播讲话中说道，称沙特方面声称他的组织将以伊斯兰教最神圣的城市为目标的说法是“一场巨大的宣传”。

“麦加的圣洁对也门人民来说尤为重要，”他说道，同时指责沙特阿拉伯“利用谎言作为武器”，以达到其对胡塞武装的战争目的。

半岛电视台记者优素福·马乌里从也门首都萨那报道说：“胡塞的讲话不仅是针对也门人民的，也是针对全世界的，目的是澄清事实，胡塞武装并没有像沙特阿拉伯声称的那样，以圣城麦加为目标。”

胡塞武装在讲话中还表示，沙特阿拉伯挑起了也门最新一轮冲突，胡塞武装采取的是防御性行动。

与此同时，也门沙特支持的总统领导委员会主席拉沙德·阿里米表示，胡塞武装在塔伊兹、马里卜、拉赫季、焦夫、哈杰、拜达达利等前线遭受重创。

据也门官方萨巴通讯社报道，阿利米在与法国驻也门大使会面时表示，胡塞武装在红海沿岸取得的进展只是暂时的。

在反对沙特领导的联军的集会上，一名胡塞武装支持者将胡塞武装领导人阿卜杜勒-马利克·胡塞的海报别在匕首腰带上。[图片：Khaled Abdullah/路透社]

对麦加的侵略是“应受谴责的行为”

伊朗外交部发言人伊斯梅尔·巴盖伊周四在X电视台发表声明称，任何针对伊斯兰教圣地，特别是麦加的侵略行为“都是应受谴责的行为”。

但他补充说，仅仅声称拦截了一架“飞往麦加”的无人机，并不足以指控胡塞武装犯下此罪行。

“我们也不应该忘记，我们地区已经发生过多次‘伪旗行动’，尤其是在最近几个月，”巴盖伊一边说着，一边指向以色列。

与此同时，伊朗匿名消息人士告诉路透社，在沙特阿拉伯就胡塞武装最近的袭击向北京提出请求后，中国已私下要求伊朗官员帮助控制胡塞武装。

路透社报道称，北京公开呼吁各方保持克制、展开对话并恢复安全航行，但其私下传递的信息却远不止于此。

局势升级还有可能将其他地区参与者卷入其中——特别是沙特阿拉伯的国防伙伴巴基斯坦和土耳其，它们上个月与沙特阿拉伯签署了联合防御协议。

巴基斯坦国防部长霍贾·阿西夫表示，鉴于胡塞武装最近发动的袭击，现在是时候落实与沙特阿拉伯和土耳其达成的《麦加协议》了。

阿西夫周四对巴基斯坦媒体发表上述评论之际，伊朗外交部长阿巴斯·阿拉格奇表示，他已与巴基斯坦陆军参谋长阿西姆·穆尼尔通电话，讨论“地区局势发展”。