The Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen and the Saudi authorities on Wednesday accused each other of sharply escalating their attacks, adding to fears that their recent return to war could further destabilize the Middle East.
The Houthis claimed to have downed a Saudi fighter jet, while Saudi Arabia accused the group of firing a drone near Mecca, the holiest site for Muslims.
A spokesman for the Houthi military, Yahya Saree, said on social media that the group had shot down a Saudi F-15 fighter jet over Yemeni territory using a locally made missile, without providing evidence. The Saudi authorities did not respond to a request for comment.
Mr. Saree made the claim hours after Saudi Arabia said that its military had shot down a Houthi drone outside Mecca, the holiest site for Muslims. The drone was intercepted and destroyed south of Mecca on Tuesday as it headed toward prohibited airspace over the city, Maj. Gen. Turki Al-Maliki, the spokesman for the Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen, said in a statement on social media.
Mr. Saree denied that the Houthis had targeted Mecca, dismissing the allegation as “fabrication and lies.”
The conflict between the Houthis and the internationally recognized government, which is supported by Saudi Arabia, has spiraled back into war in recent days, adding further uncertainty to global oil markets already dealing with the U.S.-Iran war.
The clashes have spurred a sharp rise in energy prices, with investors worried about the long-term impact on global supplies. The Houthi attacks threaten oil shipments from Saudi Arabia, which was the world’s largest exporter before the Iran war knocked it down in the rankings.
Mr. Saree said the Saudis had launched more than 450 strikes this week and that the Houthis had responded with attacks on an oil refinery operated by Aramco, the Saudi state-owned energy company, and a military air base.
The resumption of war has plunged Saudi Arabia into a state of strategic shock. Last week, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, urged President Trump to take military action against the Houthis and was rebuffed.
Any attempted drone strike on Mecca, the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad, would spark outrage in the Muslim world. More than 1.7 million pilgrims, most of them from overseas, visited the city this year for the annual pilgrimage known as the hajj, according to Saudi government data.
The Houthi drone was “an attempt to terrorize the pilgrims visiting the Holy Mosque and to harm citizens and residents,” General Al-Maliki of Saudi Arabia said, adding that the security of the pilgrims and sacred mosques was a “red line.”
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation, a 57-member coalition that considers itself the collective voice of the Muslim world, condemned the alleged attack as well as the Houthis’ wider strikes against Saudi Arabia.
“These attacks instill fear in innocent civilians, violate the sanctity of holy sites and mosques, and provoke the sentiments of Muslims around the world,” the group said on social media on Wednesday.
Houthi forces have been on a sweeping offensive in recent weeks, seizing territory from the Saudi-backed government and extending influence over the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a crucial choke point that connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.
The Houthis and a Saudi-backed military coalition in Yemen have been fighting since the Iranian-backed group seized control of Sanaa, the capital, in 2014.
A truce was reached in 2022, but that has largely unraveled in recent weeks, with fierce ground clashes between Houthi fighters and forces allied with the Saudi-backed government.
The Houthis have made territorial gains in areas along the Red Sea, near Bab al-Mandab. The strait has become vital for Saudi Arabia as an alternative for exporting oil after Iran effectively blockaded the Strait of Hormuz after the start of its war with the United States and Israel in February.
The Saudi authorities said on Friday that they were forced to shut down their East-West oil pipeline, a critical conduit for getting oil to its Red Sea ports, following a drone attack they said was launched by an Iran-backed militia in Iraq.
Farea Al-Muslimi, a Yemen specialist at Chatham House, a London-based research group, said the Houthi claim on the fighter jet was plausible, given their military capabilities. “The Houthis have downed drones in the past and proven to have their own surface-to-air capabilities,” he said.
The United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting on Tuesday to discuss the upsurge in fighting, and called for de-escalation and renewed dialogue.
Abdullah al-Saadi, Yemen’s U.N. ambassador, said that the Houthis were using their control of the Bab al-Mandab as an “extension of the threat and blackmail equation seen in the Strait of Hormuz.”
Vivian Nereim contributed reporting from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
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