Saudi Arabia intercepts Houthi drone headed for Mecca in escalating conflict

For the first time in nearly a decade, a security alert sounded over Mecca — Islam's holiest city — after Saudi air defenses destroyed a Houthi drone before it could breach the city's restricted airspace. The incident marks a profound threshold in a conflict that has smoldered since 2015, now pressing against the sacred geography that anchors the spiritual lives of nearly two billion people. What was once a distant war fought over Yemeni territory has drawn close enough to cast a shadow over the Kaaba itself, raising questions that are as much theological as they are geopolitical.