RIYADH (The Thursday Times) — Saudi air defences intercepted and destroyed a Houthi drone launched towards the Makkah region on Friday morning, the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said, as Pakistan condemned the group’s attacks on the kingdom and on shipping in the Bab al-Mandab at the United Nations.
Coalition spokesman Major General Turki al-Maliki said the drone was “intercepted and destroyed”, and that air defences had separately brought down a Houthi cruise missile aimed at western Saudi Arabia. On Thursday, the coalition said it had destroyed a ballistic missile fired at the Eastern Province and two more launched towards Riyadh.
A Houthi spokesman denied targeting Islam’s holiest city or the area around it, insisting that the group’s cross-border attacks were aimed only at Saudi oil facilities and military bases. The coalition has previously accused the Houthis of launching drones towards both Makkah and Madinah.
The Iran-aligned Houthis have sharply escalated attacks on Saudi airports, oil sites and cities in recent days, claiming six strikes on Thursday alone, after a four-year truce in Yemen collapsed in July.
At a UN Security Council debate on maritime security in New York, Pakistan’s acting permanent representative, Ambassador Usman Jadoon, said Pakistan “strongly condemns the nefarious designs by Houthi militia to weaponize Bab-al-Mandab” by attacking merchant ships and seafarers.
“These attacks undermine maritime security and threaten peace and development of regional countries, especially that of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which has faced blatant aggression by the Houthis,” Jadoon said. “Pakistan reaffirms its unwavering support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom and stands in complete solidarity with its leadership and people.”
Islamabad has repeatedly pledged to defend the kingdom under the mutual defence pact the two countries signed last year, which was widened into the Makkah Pact with Türkiye this week.
