In Medina, where pilgrims gather daily at the Prophet’s Mosque, the morning of Tuesday, Sept. 29 began with a strike that has unsettled far more than one power grid. At 5:11 a.m., according to the Coalition to Support Legitimacy in Yemen, a drone hit the Taiba electricity distribution station, the facility that supplies power to the mosque. One transformer was damaged and taken out of service. The wider electricity network was not disrupted.
For the pilgrims and residents who depend on that station, the attack carried a weight that ordinary infrastructure strikes do not. The site it powers is among the most sacred in Islam, and the prospect of holy cities being drawn into Yemen’s war has struck a nerve across the Muslim world.
On Thursday, coalition spokesperson Maj. Gen. Turki al-Maliki said an investigation by the relevant authorities, including an examination of debris from the drone involved, had led the coalition to conclude that Yemen’s Houthis had planned and carried out the attack. He described the strike as an attack on a civilian facility and accused the Houthis of continuing what he characterized as attempts to target the Two Holy Mosques and provoke Muslims around the world. “The coalition will take the necessary measures to neutralize the terrorist Houthi militias,” he said, linking those measures to protecting the holy sites and ensuring the safety of pilgrims in Mecca and Medina.
The Houthis, who control Sanaa and much of Yemen’s Red Sea coast, have denied responsibility for targeting Islamic holy sites, according to Agence France-Presse. A senior Houthi official on Thursday again rejected the accusations, according to Houthi media cited by AFP, and Reuters likewise reported that Houthi sources disputed the coalition’s conclusion. The dispute over who is responsible remains unresolved, even as condemnation has poured in.
The Gulf Cooperation Council was among the first to respond. Secretary-General Jasem Albudaiwi said the attack on the Taiba station had crossed “all red lines” and described it as a dangerous violation of the sanctity of Islamic holy sites. He called it a “blatant affront” to Muslims and accused the Houthis of disregarding religious and humanitarian values as well as international law and accepted international norms.
Albudaiwi framed the stakes in collective terms, saying the security of Saudi Arabia and its holy sites could not be separated from the security of the other Gulf states, and that any threat to Saudi Arabia should be regarded as a threat to all GCC members. He reaffirmed the Gulf states’ full solidarity with Saudi Arabia and their support for measures taken by Riyadh to protect its territory, citizens, holy sites and pilgrims. The GCC’s official statement similarly declared that Saudi security and the security of its sacred sites form an integral part of collective Gulf security.
The condemnation extended well beyond the Gulf. Türkiye’s Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the attack on civilian infrastructure, saying actions threatening Saudi security and targeting sacred Islamic values must stop immediately and unconditionally. Ankara reaffirmed its support for Saudi Arabia and called for measures to prevent further escalation. Qatar described the strike as a grave assault on the sanctity of Islamic holy sites and a violation of Saudi sovereignty and international law, adding that Saudi security was an inseparable part of Gulf security. The League of Arab States called the attack an unacceptable transgression and warned that targeting Medina provoked the sentiments of Muslims around the world. Al-Azhar, the Cairo-based center of Sunni Islamic learning, said an attack on Medina would deeply affect Muslims globally.
Meanwhile, the accusation and the denials landed amid intensifying fighting inside Yemen. AFP correspondents reported hearing explosions in Houthi-controlled Sanaa on Thursday, while forces aligned with Yemen’s internationally recognized government said they had attacked Houthi positions. A military spokesperson said government forces conducted what he described as a high-value operation in Sanaa and struck 11 targets in Saada, and that 27 airstrikes hit what the forces described as an integrated Houthi military system in Taiz.
The Houthis have repeatedly launched missiles and drones toward Saudi Arabia since Riyadh intervened in Yemen’s civil war in 2015, though attacks associated with Islam’s holy cities have been comparatively rare. For now, the coalition says its examination of the drone debris identifies the Houthis as responsible for the Sept. 29 attack, a conclusion the group firmly disputes. What is not in dispute is the response: a unified public stance from Saudi Arabia’s Gulf partners and several other Muslim governments and institutions, centered on the location of the strike and the Taiba station’s role in keeping the lights on at the Prophet’s Mosque. Whether that unified front deters further strikes near the holy sites is the question now hanging over the pilgrims who keep arriving in Medina.