A Saudi-led coalition has accused Yemen’s Houthi rebels of carrying out an attack on a power distribution station in the holy city of Medina, escalating tensions amid renewed hostilities involving the Iran-aligned group.
The coalition said the attack took place on Tuesday and damaged a transformer at the facility. However, power supplies were not disrupted, according to reports cited by Al Jazeera.
The Saudi-led coalition said an investigation, including an examination of debris from the drone allegedly used in the attack, confirmed that the Houthis had planned and carried out the strike.
The Houthis have denied the accusation. A military official quoted by the group’s Saba news agency described the Saudi claim as “false” and alleged that Riyadh was making the accusation to divert attention from its earlier claims of a Houthi attack on Mecca.
The coalition said the Medina incident was part of what it described as a continuing attempt by the Houthis to target Islam’s two holiest mosques—the Grand Mosque in Mecca and the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina.
It also accused the Houthis of seeking to provoke Muslims around the world and said it would continue taking measures to protect holy sites and worshippers.
The latest accusation follows a Saudi claim on September 15 that a Houthi drone had targeted an area south of Mecca. Saudi air defences said they intercepted and destroyed the drone. The Houthis also denied responsibility for that incident.
Meanwhile, the Saudi-led coalition said on Thursday that it had intercepted and destroyed four Houthi drones over Khamis Mushait and two ballistic missiles detected over Khamis Mushait and Jazan in southwestern Saudi Arabia.
At the same time, fighting has intensified in Yemen’s Taiz province. Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces said dozens of Houthi fighters were killed in clashes in several areas of the province, although the claim could not be independently verified.
The escalation comes as Yemen continues to face a major displacement crisis. Government figures cited by the Internal Displacement Camp Management Unit showed that 197,906 internally displaced people, belonging to 29,519 families, had been registered as of Wednesday.
More than 97,000 displaced people were reportedly sheltering in Taiz, while more than 50,000 had taken refuge in neighbouring Lahij province.
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