Turkey condemns Houthi drone attack targeting Mecca

• Ankara reaffirms solidarity with Riyadh and calls for an immediate end to attacks it says threaten regional stability

Turkey issued a strong condemnation on Wednesday of a Houthi drone attack aimed at the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia, with both the Foreign Ministry and the country's communications director denouncing the strike as a threat to the security of one of Islam's most sacred sites.

In a statement, Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said it "strongly condemn[s] the Houthis' drone attack targeting the holy city of Mecca." The ministry reaffirmed Ankara's backing for Saudi Arabia's sovereignty, territorial integrity and security, stressed solidarity with Riyadh, and called for such attacks , which it said also threaten broader regional stability, to stop immediately, urging all sides to avoid steps that would further escalate tensions.

Turkish Communications Director Burhanettin Duran also weighed in publicly, condemning what he called a despicable attempted assault on the sanctity and security of Mecca. 

Duran said any attack on Islam's holy sites wounds the collective conscience of the Muslim world, framing the protection of Mecca's peace and security as a shared priority across the Islamic world. 

He echoed President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's calls for dialogue, arguing that the region needs diplomacy rather than new conflict.

Turkey’s Defence Ministry issued its own, separate condemnation, framing the incident within the broader escalation at sea rather than the strike on Mecca alone. 

The ministry said the continuing Houthi threat in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait was undermining regional security, harming international maritime trade, and destabilizing global shipping more broadly, and it called for an end to actions that put that stability at risk.

According to the Saudi-led coalition, air defenses intercepted and destroyed a drone launched by Yemen's Houthi movement south of Mecca before it could enter the city's restricted airspace. 

The Houthis, who have been engaged in renewed fighting with Yemeni government forces since July and recently claimed advances along the Red Sea coast and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, have denied responsibility for the attack.