Saudi Arabia, Egypt Pledge Closer Security Ties After Mecca Drone Incident

Saudi Arabia and Egypt pledged closer political and security coordination as regional tensions intensified following a series of Houthi attacks on Saudi territory, including what Saudi authorities described as an attempted drone strike toward the holy city of Mecca.

Separated by the Red Sea, Egypt and Saudi Arabia share strategic interests in securing key maritime routes linking the Mediterranean, Red Sea, and Gulf region. Those waterways are also central to both countries’ economies.

Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping during the Gaza war reduced traffic through the Suez Canal, cutting one of Egypt’s key sources of foreign currency. During the Iran conflict, Saudi Arabia rerouted crude exports through the Red Sea, with much of the oil moving via the Suez Canal or Egypt’s SUMED pipeline to the Mediterranean.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi reaffirmed support for freedom and security of maritime navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, and the Red Sea on Tuesday.

Following their meeting in Cairo, the Egyptian president, in a statement, expressed support for Saudi measures to safeguard the kingdom’s security and stability and for efforts to achieve a comprehensive political solution to the conflict in Yemen.

The talks took place amid escalating military activity between Saudi Arabia and the Iran-backed Houthi terrorist group in Yemen.

Over the past week, Saudi authorities said the Houthis launched attacks on the kingdom’s civilian areas and energy infrastructure, while the Houthis said they had targeted Saudi military facilities and aircraft. The Houthis have also captured the strategic Perim Island in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait and the Red Sea port city of Mokha, Yemen, located roughly 50 miles from the strait.

Saudi’s Red Line

Saudi military spokesperson Gen. Turki al-Malki said that on Tuesday, Royal Saudi Air Defense Forces intercepted and destroyed what he described as a hostile Houthi drone before it entered prohibited airspace over the city of Mecca.

Al-Malki called it the second attempt to target Mecca, following what he described as a ballistic missile attack in July 2017.

The Houthis have denied targeting Mecca. Houthi military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, in a statement on Wednesday, called the Saudi allegations “fabrications and lies.”

He said that Houthi operations targeted Saudi oil facilities and military bases rather than Islamic sacred sites.

Houthi political bureau member Mohammed Al-Farah also denied the allegation, calling claims that Yemen targeted Mecca “an outright lie.” Speaking to the Houthi-run SABA news agency, he said Yemenis sought to protect, not threaten, Islamic holy sites.

As tensions continued to rise, the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh updated its travel guidance on Wednesday, advising Americans to reconsider travel to Saudi Arabia because of the risk of Iranian drone and missile attacks and armed conflict.

It also urged U.S. citizens not to travel near the Saudi–Yemen border because of the threat of terrorism.

Defense, Energy Under Pressure

Saudi Arabia’s defense partners, Pakistan and Turkey, responded differently after the kingdom said it had intercepted a Houthi drone headed toward Mecca.

The three countries signed a defense agreement in August under which an attack on one would be treated as an attack on all three.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday condemned what he described as “the vile and heinous attempt to target the sacred site in the Honored Mecca with a drone attack.”

While expressing solidarity with Saudi Arabia, Sharif did not mention the Houthis by name.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry on Sept. 12 condemned earlier drone attacks on Saudi Arabia that it said were launched from Iraqi territory. However, Ankara had not publicly commented on the Mecca drone incident at the time of publication.

The worsening security situation has also raised concerns about Saudi Arabia’s energy infrastructure.

Saudi Aramco’s East-West Pipeline was shut after a Sept. 11 drone attack that the kingdom attributed to Iraqi territory.

The kingdom clarified that, following a request from the prime minister of Iraq to give the Iraqi government the opportunity to take necessary measures to prevent attacks launched from Iraqi territory against Saudi Arabia, the kingdom opted not to respond at the time and instead to support the efforts of the Iraqi government, a statement from the Saudi Press Agency said the day after the attack.

The pipeline transports crude oil from the Abqaiq oil field in eastern Saudi Arabia to the Red Sea port of Yanbu, allowing exports to bypass the Strait of Hormuz. Industry analysts estimate the disruption could last weeks.

However, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright offered a more optimistic assessment.

“This will be a brief and temporary interruption. It will be measured in days,” Wright told CNBC on Sept. 15, adding that he expected crude oil to begin flowing through the pipeline again “very soon.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.