Saudi Arabia Sounds Second Mecca Danger Alert in Under 10 Days as Houthi Missile Campaign Widens

Saudi Arabia's National Early Warning Platform issued emergency alerts Thursday, September 24, for Mecca, Jeddah, Taif, Tabuk and Yanbu, warning residents of unspecified potential danger and telling them to shelter indoors away from windows, according to the Saudi Civil Defense. The danger passed within minutes, Arab Times Online and daijiworld both reported.

This was the second alert for Mecca in under 10 days, according to NDTV, which noted the last one came September 15 after Saudi air defenses intercepted a drone south of the holy city. Saudi officials called that the first attempted Houthi strike near Mecca since 2017.

In recent weeks, early-warning alerts have frequently preceded actual Houthi attacks rather than false alarms, according to NDTV and Hindustan Times.

A widening front

On September 19, Saudi authorities intercepted a ballistic missile fired toward Riyadh, the first such strike on the capital in years, according to NDTV. Days later, Breitbart reported confirmed Houthi missile and drone attacks on Khamis Mushayt, Abha and Taif, with the Houthis claiming they targeted aircraft hangars, radar systems, runways and ammunition depots at the Khamis Mushayt airbase. Saudi officials said at least 13 civilians were injured.

The Saudi-led coalition, a 57-country bloc backing Yemen's internationally recognized government, said it intercepted six ballistic missiles and thwarted a separate attempt to hit Taif and Yanbu, according to coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Maliki, who posted on X that "escalations and violations by the terrorist Houthi militia will be dealt with firmly." Al-Maliki separately condemned what he called the Houthis' "heinous and deliberate attacks" on civilians, per Breitbart.

The conflict traces back to July 2026, when the 2022 Saudi-Houthi truce collapsed after the Houthis allowed an Iranian flight to land directly at Sanaa airport, according to Hindustan Times. Saudi-led forces struck the Sanaa runway in response, and the Houthis retaliated with strikes on southern Saudi Arabia before seizing Yemen's Red Sea coast near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a chokepoint for global oil shipping.

Claims and counterclaims from Taiz

Yemeni government officials told Breitbart they recaptured strategic positions in Taiz province on Monday, though they have not dislodged the Houthis from any city the group has taken. A Houthi official claimed Saudi airstrikes killed three civilians, including two children, in Taiz. Breitbart noted independent news sources could not verify that claim, and no side has offered documentation settling who is responsible for civilian casualties in Taiz. Both the Houthi civilian-casualty claim and the Yemeni government's territorial recapture claim remain unconfirmed by independent sources.

Washington's position

The State Department renewed a Middle East travel warning on Sunday, September 20, telling Americans in the region to "exercise heightened vigilance" given potential flight cancellations and airspace closures, Fox News reported. The advisory specifically named Houthi hostilities against Saudi Arabia, including strikes on civilian airports, and warned that Iran-aligned groups "may target other U.S. interests overseas." Fox News noted this is a periodic reminder rather than a change in advisory status, part of a worldwide caution that has been in place since February.

A Houthi military adviser, Abed Mohammed al-Thawr, made the threat to American interests explicit in an interview with AFP published by Hindustan Times. "If America gambles on supporting Saudi Arabia with airstrikes or air support... we will consider any American interests around us to be targets and we will not exclude anything," al-Thawr said.

Breitbart reported that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman asked President Donald Trump for U.S. military assistance against the Houthis, and that Trump declined. That account has not been corroborated by other sources reviewed here, and neither the White House nor Saudi officials have issued a public statement confirming or disputing it.

MBS met with U.S. Central Command chief Admiral Bradley Cooper in Jeddah on Monday while coordinating the war effort, then traveled to Egypt Tuesday to meet President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, according to Breitbart, in talks Saudi state media described only as addressing "issues of mutual interest."

Verified and unverified claims

Repeated Saudi civil defense alerts for Mecca and other western cities, real missile and drone launches from Yemen, at least 13 civilian injuries from a September attack on Khamis Mushayt, and a collapsed truce dating to July are confirmed across sources. The precise death toll and responsibility for the Taiz civilian deaths Houthis allege, the exact number and targets of Saudi-Yemeni airstrikes on any given day, and whether the Trump administration has made any private commitment on military support for Riyadh remain unverified. The next test comes with whether Saudi and coalition forces can retake Red Sea coastal territory the Houthis seized this month, and whether the group's threats against U.S. interests translate into an actual attack outside Yemen or Saudi Arabia.