Saudi regime, rather than Yemen, poses threat to holy sites: Yemeni ministry

Yemen’s Foreign Ministry has stressed that the “criminal” Saudi regime poses a threat to the Muslim holy sites - not Sana’a, which has been making sacrifices to defend them.

The statement came after Saudi Arabia accused Yemeni armed forces of attacking a power distribution station in the Muslim holy city of Medina, which supplies electricity to The Prophet’s Mosque, on Tuesday. The report claimed that the alleged attack put one transformer out of service, without affecting the electricity network.

In a statement, the Yemeni Foreign Ministry slammed Riyadh for repeating its “false narrative” and exploiting the sanctity of the Muslim holy sites.

The statement stressed that the “criminal” Saudi regime, rather than Yemen, “poses a threat to the [Muslim] Ummah’s holy sites”.

“It is Yemen that has made a sacrifice after a sacrifice in defense of the holy sites,” it read.

The accusations, the statement said, come after representatives from the Saudi kingdom secretly met with Israeli officials in a neighboring country.

Representatives from Saudi Arabia reportedly attended a meeting between Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan in Abu Dhabi at the weekend.

The Yemeni ministry decried the kingdom for “transforming the holy sites into an investment project for the criminal Saudi regime”, saying that it constitutes “a grave affront to Muslim sanctities”.

“The Saudi regime is unfit to administer the two Holy Mosques and cannot be trusted with Islamic holy sites,” the statement said.

‘Riyadh fully responsible for any attack on holy sites’

Chairman of Yemen's Supreme Political Council Mahdi al-Mashat described the Saudi accusation as a “desperate attempt to mobilize Muslim public opinion, which has discovered the truth about the al-Saud regime's hostility toward the holy sites and its violation of their sanctity.”

He held the Saudi regime fully responsible for any attack on the holy cities of Mecca and Medina or pilgrims, warning against any false-flag attack.

Al-Mashat urged the Muslim people not to be deceived by “the lies of the criminal Saudi regime”, which has “transformed the sacred land of the Two Holy Mosques into a place for amusement, hosting female dancers, and opened the doors to immodesty under the banner of entertainment.”

He stressed that Yemen, which has carried out retaliatory attacks in support of Palestine and al-Aqsa Mosque, is ready to defend the holy sites in Saudi Arabia “by all possible means”

"The Muslim people of Yemen have waged a major battle against the largest military powers—America, Britain, and the usurping Israeli enemy entity—in defense of the al-Aqsa Mosque and is fully prepared to defend Mecca, the Sacred House of God (Kaaba), Medina, or the Prophet’s Mosque by all possible means."

‘Baseless claims’

A military source at Yemen’s Defense Ministry also dismissed the Saudi claim as "completely baseless."

“This latest fabrication is intended to cover up the [kingdom’s] failure to promote its earlier claim that [Yemen] had targeted Mecca, as well as its failure to impose its guardianship over the Yemeni people.”

The source stressed the Yemeni Armed Forces’ right to respond to “these false accusations”.

Yemeni scholars call Saudi Mecca claim a ‘pure fabrication,’ say US bases are real threat to Mecca

Yemeni scholars have rejected as a “pure fabrication” Riyadh’s claim that Yemeni forces targeted the holy city of Mecca.

Dhaifallah al-Shami, a member of the Political Bureau of Yemen’s Ansarullah resistance movement, also echoed the source’s remarks, saying the Saudi regime resorted to accusing Yemenis of targeting the electricity facility in Medina, after it failed to promote the fabrication that Mecca had been targeted by a Yemeni drone last month.

He stressed that such a lie will not deceive the Yemeni people, noting that it amounts to an accusation against the honor of their affiliation with Islam and that its impact on the Yemeni people is more painful than the fatal Saudi airstrikes and the killing of children and women.

The developments come after the rapid advance of the Yemeni military and Ansarullah fighters along Yemen’s Western coast and their control of Bab al-Mandab Strait, and the failure of Riyadh’s calls for aid to be heeded.

Yemeni armed forces continue to consolidate their positions along the Western coast, taking additional measures to counter any attempt by Saudi-backed mercenaries to make up for their losses.

For nearly a decade, Saudi Arabia has enforced a crippling land, sea, and air blockade, which the United Nations has repeatedly described as a primary driver of the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

The siege has deliberately targeted Yemen's ability to import food, fuel, and medicine, while simultaneously attempting to plunder the nation's oil and gas resources.

Utilizing their advanced asymmetric naval capabilities, including drones and missiles, Yemen has shifted from a purely defensive posture to an active pressure campaign.

The strategy is designed to inflict direct economic and military costs on the Saudi regime until the siege is permanently lifted, the war is ended, and Yemen's full sovereignty is restored.

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