Houthis Strike Power Station Near Prophet's Mosque in Madinah, Riyadh Says

A drone strike hit a power station in Madinah that supplies electricity to the Prophet's Mosque, Saudi Arabia said, blaming Yemen's Houthi rebels in what Riyadh called a "cowardly terrorist act" against one of Islam's holiest sites. The pre-dawn attack on Tuesday knocked out one transformer but left the wider electricity network running, according to the Saudi-led coalition. The Houthis have denied any involvement.

The attack marks a dangerous new turn in a conflict that had seen years of relative calm after a 2022 United Nations-brokered truce. It has drawn swift and sharp condemnation from across the Muslim world, with Pakistan, Türkiye, the Gulf states, and major Islamic bodies all denouncing what many called an assault on the sanctity of the Two Holy Mosques.

The Prophet's Mosque (Masjid an-Nabawi) in Madinah. The Saudi-led coalition says the Taibah electricity distribution station struck on Tuesday supplies power to the mosque.

The Attack: What Happened

According to the Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen's Houthis, a drone struck the Taibah electricity distribution station in Madinah at 5:11 a.m. on Tuesday, September 29 (0211 GMT).

Coalition spokesman Major General Turki Al-Malki said one transformer at the facility was taken out of service by the strike. The rest of the electricity network continued to function normally, and there was no wider disruption to power supplies in the holy city, according to the coalition statement.

Al-Malki described the facility as a civilian power station that provides electricity services to the Prophet's Mosque, also known as Masjid an-Nabawi — Islam's second-holiest site after the Grand Mosque in Makkah.

The spokesman said an investigation that included an operational review and an examination of debris from the drone had confirmed what the coalition described as Houthi involvement in planning and executing the attack. "The investigation and evidence gathered by the competent authorities have confirmed the involvement of the Terrorist Houthi Militia in planning and executing this cowardly terrorist act, based on after action review and the wreckage of the drone used," he said.

The coalition said the strike fitted a pattern of repeated Houthi efforts to threaten the Two Holy Mosques in Makkah and Madinah and to stir sentiment among Muslims worldwide. It added that it would continue taking measures to protect the Two Holy Mosques and ensure the safety of pilgrims and visitors.

The Houthi Denial

The Houthis have rejected the Saudi account. A Houthi military source, quoted by the Houthi-run Saba news agency, called the coalition's claim a "lie" and described it as baseless, Reuters reported.

The Houthi source said the accusation was intended to cover up what it described as Saudi Arabia's failure to substantiate an earlier allegation that the group had targeted Makkah — a reference to an incident about two weeks ago, when the coalition said it had intercepted and destroyed a Houthi drone south of Makkah before it could enter restricted airspace over the holy city. The rebels denied that allegation as well.

The competing claims cannot be independently verified from the ground. But the Saudi coalition says its evidence — the recovered drone wreckage and the operational review of the attack — establishes the Houthis' responsibility.

A Pattern of Escalation

A Houthi military drone. The coalition says analysis of drone wreckage from the Madinah strike confirmed the group's involvement. (File photo)

The Madinah strike comes amid what reports describe as a sharp escalation in fighting between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis after years of relative calm following the 2022 UN-brokered truce.

Beyond the two incidents near the holy cities, the coalition has also reported intercepting Houthi drones and ballistic missiles targeting areas in southern Saudi Arabia. In one recent incident, the coalition said its air defenses intercepted and destroyed a Houthi ballistic missile launched toward Khamis Mushait in the kingdom's south.

The escalation also spills across the wider region. The Iran-aligned Houthis have in recent weeks been linked to attacks on targets far beyond Yemen's borders, and Gulf capitals have watched with growing alarm as the frequency of attempted strikes has risen.

The targeting of Madinah — a city whose entire identity revolves around the Prophet's Mosque — carries a symbolism that earlier strikes on military or economic targets did not. Al-Malki's framing was explicit: the attack was not merely on infrastructure, but on the sanctity of Islamic holy sites.

The Muslim World's Reaction

The condemnation was immediate and nearly unanimous. The Gulf Cooperation Council's secretary general, Jasem Albudaiwi, called the targeting of an electricity station serving the Prophet's Mosque a serious escalation and a breach of the sanctity of Islamic holy sites.

The attack "crossed all red lines, representing a blatant provocation to the sentiments of Muslims across the world, and constitutes a grave escalation in violating the sanctity of Islamic holy sites," Albudaiwi said in a statement. He stressed that Saudi Arabia's security and its holy sites were integral to the collective security of the GCC, reaffirming the bloc's firm support for the kingdom.

The United Arab Emirates described the attack as a "flagrant violation" of Saudi sovereignty and a threat to the kingdom's security and stability, reiterating full solidarity with Riyadh. Bahrain's foreign ministry also strongly condemned the strike, describing it as a violation of international law and international humanitarian law and a "dangerous escalation" involving Islamic holy sites. Kuwait and Jordan issued separate statements backing Saudi Arabia, with Jordan reaffirming its "absolute solidarity."

The Arab League, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the Muslim World League, and the Arab Parliament added their voices, urging the protection of civilian infrastructure and religious sites. Türkiye condemned what it described as an attack on civilian infrastructure in Madinah and called for such actions to stop immediately.

Pakistan's Strong Stand

Pakistan strongly condemned the strike on Friday, describing it as a "grave provocation" and warning that attacks on civilian infrastructure linked to Islamic holy sites threaten regional peace and security.

In a statement, Pakistan's Foreign Office said the Taibah power distribution station, which supplies electricity to the Prophet's Mosque, was targeted on September 29. It stressed that the sanctity of the Two Holy Mosques and the safety of worshippers and pilgrims must be respected under all circumstances.

The Foreign Office called for an immediate and unconditional end to what it described as reckless attacks and reaffirmed Pakistan's support for Saudi Arabia's sovereignty, territorial integrity, and security. "Pakistan stands firmly with Saudi Arabia in its efforts to safeguard the Two Holy Mosques, protect its people and ensure the safety of pilgrims," the statement said.

Islamabad also called on the global community to adopt a firm and unified stance against Houthi attacks, enforce the arms embargo, cut off the sources of the militia's weapons and financing, and support the Yemeni government in restoring state institutions. It said countries should help the Yemeni government assert sovereignty over all national territory and ensure that weapons remain "exclusively in the hands of the state" — steps it called necessary to end the threat.

The condemnation fits Pakistan's long-standing position on the security of the holy sites. With a large Pakistani diaspora in the kingdom and deep defense ties to Riyadh, Islamabad rarely misses an opportunity to align publicly with Saudi Arabia on such incidents.

Separately, Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman discussed regional challenges in a phone call with French Armed Forces Minister Catherine Vautrin, according to a post on the Saudi minister's X account — a sign that Riyadh is engaging Western partners as tensions rise.

What This Means

The Madinah strike matters less for its physical damage — one transformer, no blackout — than for what it signals. After years of relative calm since the 2022 truce, the Houthis are again probing deep inside Saudi territory, and this time the target carries religious symbolism that guarantees a political firestorm.

For Riyadh, the attack is being framed as proof that the Houthi threat never went away — only dormant. Al-Malki's language about "repeated attempts to target the Two Holy Mosques" is designed to do two things: rally Muslim-world opinion behind the kingdom, and justify a tougher military posture after years of de-escalation efforts.

For the Houthis, the denial follows a familiar script: reject the accusation, question the evidence, and portray Saudi claims as propaganda. But the coalition says it holds physical evidence — the wreckage — and the rebels' parallel denial of the earlier Makkah incident leaves them with a credibility problem in the eyes of Gulf capitals.

For the wider region, the strike is another data point in a deteriorating security picture. With the US-Iran war in its seventh month, shipping through the Strait of Hormuz under military escort, and now Houthi drones reaching Madinah, the Middle East's conflicts are increasingly bleeding into one another.

What Happens Next

A Patriot missile battery at Prince Sultan air base in Saudi Arabia. The coalition has vowed to keep taking measures to protect the Two Holy Mosques and pilgrims.

The immediate question is whether the coalition will respond with retaliatory strikes. The coalition has said it will "continue taking measures to protect the Two Holy Mosques," language that leaves the door open to a military response — though Riyadh has for years been trying to wind down, not escalate, its campaign in Yemen.

Diplomatically, Pakistan's call for a unified global stance — arms embargo enforcement, cutting off weapons and financing — points to where pressure could be applied. Whether Western partners act on such calls, or continue to treat the Houthis as one thread in the broader Iran confrontation, remains to be seen.

A second question is whether this incident accelerates a formal end to the fragile post-2022 calm. If Houthi attacks on Saudi territory continue at this tempo, the kingdom may conclude that its de-escalation strategy has failed — with consequences for Yemen's war and for regional diplomacy far beyond it.

For pilgrims and worshippers, the practical reassurance is that the mosque's power supply was never disrupted. But the attack's symbolism will linger: the sanctity of the holy sites, once treated as beyond the reach of the Yemen war, is now openly in question.