Saudi forces say intercepted drone, as Yemen's Houthis announce 17 killed in two days

The Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen's Houthis said on Tuesday it had intercepted a drone in the region of Mecca, Islam's holiest city, as the Houthis reported 17 people killed in Yemen over two days.

Saudi Arabia has accused the Houthis several times of targeting Mecca and Medina, another holy city, accusations the Iran-backed fighters systematically reject.

"Interception and destruction of a drone in the Mecca region," Turki al-Malki, the coalition's spokesman wrote on social media, without elaborating on the source of the attack.

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree denied that they had carried out any attacks on Saudi territory on Tuesday, calling the Saudi statement "a slanderous and recycled lie".

Yemen has been beset by war since 2014, when the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa, with a Saudi-led coalition entering the conflict a year later in support of the government.

A 2022 truce fell apart in July and, in September, the Houthis captured areas overlooking the strategic Bab al-Mandeb Strait, which links Europe to Asia via the Red Sea and Suez Canal.

The Houthis said on Tuesday that Saudi strikes had killed 17 civilians over two days this week.

The Houthi health ministry said in a statement that most of the people killed were children, "which shows that Saudi aircraft are targeting homes, residential neighbourhoods and markets".

Saree said on Monday evening that Riyadh had carried out "109 strikes over the past 24 hours" in Yemen, targeting the governorates of Saada, Taiz, Lahj, Al-Jawf and Hodeidah.

The group also claimed drone attacks on Saudi airports in the east and south of the kingdom.