The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen announced on Thursday that the Houthi group targeted a power station in the holy city of Medina in Saudi Arabia that supplies electricity to the Prophet's Mosque, one of Islam's holiest sites, a claim the Iran-backed group denied. Coalition spokesman Turki Al-Maliki said the attack occurred at 5:11 on Tuesday, targeting the Taibah power distribution station in Medina, causing the station to go out of service but leaving the power grid unaffected.
The coalition indicated that the results of the investigation and evidence gathered by the competent authorities proved the Houthis' involvement in planning and executing this cowardly terrorist act, through operational review and the remnants of a drone used.
The Houthi group denied the coalition's report. A Houthi military source, quoted by Yemen's state-run Saba news agency, said the group would reserve the right to respond to these accusations.
Saudi Arabia had already accused the Houthis in mid-September of carrying out a drone attack against Mecca, another Islam's holiest site which is home to the Grand Mosque. The group had firmly rejected Riyadh's accusations.
Al-Maliki said that the attack on a civilian facility supplying electricity to the Prophet's Mosque was an extension of the Houthi group's attempts to target the Two Holy Mosques and to provoke millions of Muslims worldwide, and affirmed that the coalition would continue to take necessary measures to protect them and ensure pilgrims' safety.
"A storm of condemnations has poured in from the Gulf, Arab and Islamic worlds over the brutal and terrorist attacks on holy sites, the latest being the attack on the generators of the Prophet's Mosque in Medina. These desperate attempts by the Houthi group to drag the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia into what they call a regional war are draining the Kingdom and placing it within the circle of this conflict, which they hope will become regional," said Salem Al-Yami, former adviser at the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
"If they were in the right, the conflict would always be against military sites and units. But for civilian facilities, and certainly the sacred areas such as the Grand Mosque in Mecca and the Prophet's Mosque in Medina, targeting them is a grave crime," said Mohammed Al-Hababi, a researcher in international relations.
Houthi attack on Medina power station causes outage, but grid unaffected
