MADINAH (The Thursday Times) — Houthi forces carried out a drone attack on a power distribution station in Madinah that supplies electricity to the Prophet’s Mosque, the Saudi-led Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen said, the latest in a string of attacks the coalition says has targeted Islam’s two holiest cities.
Coalition spokesman Major General Turki Al-Maliki said the attack struck the Taibah power distribution station at 5:11 am on Tuesday, September 29. He said an investigation by the relevant authorities, including an operational review and examination of the drone’s wreckage, established the Houthi militia’s involvement in planning and carrying out what he called “this cowardly terrorist act.”
The strike knocked one transformer out of service but did not affect the wider electricity network, Al-Maliki said. He described the targeted facility as “a civilian installation that provides electrical services to the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah,” calling the attack part of the militia’s continued pattern of attempting to target the Two Holy Mosques and part of an ongoing effort to “deliberately provoke the feelings of millions of Muslims around the world” by striking at Makkah and Madinah.
Al-Maliki pointed to the Houthis’ attempted drone attack on Makkah last month as part of the same pattern. That incident, intercepted south of the holy city before it could enter restricted airspace, prompted Saudi Arabia’s first-ever emergency alert for Mecca and drew condemnation from Pakistani officials, including Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who called it a “dastardly and heinous” act.
Al-Maliki affirmed that the coalition would continue taking the measures necessary to deter the Houthi militia, in order to guarantee the protection of the Two Holy Mosques and the safety of the Guests of the Most Merciful in Makkah and Madinah. The Houthis did not immediately respond to the coalition’s account of the attack.
The Madinah strike is the latest in a broader escalation that has unfolded since early September, during which Houthi drones and missiles have been repeatedly directed at Saudi cities, energy infrastructure, and other targets, drawing sustained coalition airstrikes in response. No large-scale retaliatory campaign had been specifically attributed to the September 29 Madinah incident as of this report.
