A Saudi-led coalition has accused Yemen’s Houthi forces of carrying out a drone attack on a power distribution station in Medina that supplies electricity to the Prophet’s Mosque, saying one transformer was disabled but the wider power network remained operational.
The coalition said forensic examination of the site and debris from the drone indicated that the Houthis were responsible for the September 29 attack. It said the station serves the Prophet’s Mosque, one of Islam’s holiest sites.
A Houthi military source cited by the group’s Saba news agency rejected the accusation as false. The source said Saudi Arabia was using the claim to distract from what the Houthis described as the kingdom’s failure to substantiate an earlier allegation that the group had attempted to target Mecca.
The latest accusation follows heightened tensions between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis after a period of relative calm following a United Nations-brokered truce in 2022. The Houthis have intensified military activity in Yemen and along the Red Sea coast, while Saudi Arabia has carried out airstrikes and continued supporting forces aligned with Yemen’s internationally recognized government.
The coalition described the Medina incident as part of what it called repeated Houthi attempts to threaten Islamic holy sites and provoke Muslims. Saudi Arabia has also reported intercepting Houthi missiles and drones targeting its territory in recent weeks.
The latest escalation has also prompted renewed diplomatic efforts to prevent the Yemen conflict from expanding further. UN envoy Hans Grundberg has met Houthi negotiators and Saudi officials as international efforts continue to contain the violence and seek a political settlement.
