...
Perhaps the most significant indication of the direction of the conflict, though, was a strike that didn’t reach its target. The Saudi coalition
accused Houthi forces in Yemen of firing a new missile, the Burkan-1, toward Mecca. The missile, which the Saudis said was intercepted by its air-defense system, appears to have been an extended-range variation of a Scud missile, according to Jeffrey Lewis, who discussed the Burkan-1 with the Atlantic Council’s Aaron Stein on the most recent
episode of his
Arms Control Wonk podcast. But more significant is the supposed target—specifically, that the Saudis would accuse the Houthis of attacking the symbolic center of the Muslim world. That’s a huge claim—as Lewis notes, it is almost impossible to determine the intended target of an intercepted missile—and it doesn’t make much sense. The Houthis are a Zaydi Shia religious revivalist movement. They are zealots, and Mecca is sacred to them for all the same reasons it is sacred to Sunnis. Threatening to destroy their most holy city is anathema to their beliefs.
The Houthis, for their part, deny the accusation. Houthi media reported that the intended target was the King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah. That would still clearly be a civilian target, making the attempted strike a war crime. So what advantage does Saudi Arabia gain by upping the ante and suggesting the target was Mecca?
Hisham al-Omeisy, a political analyst based in Sanaa, astutely noted that the move is a sectarian provocation and an invitation for jihadists to join the war against the Houthis. “Keep an eye on ISIS fanatics escaped Mosul & showing up on Saudi border to ‘defend Mecca against Shiite Houthis,’” he tweeted on Friday. “Cannot stress enough how dangerous Saudi playing Mecca card is. Despicable religious & sectarian ploy prompting an ISIS on steroids.”
...
