Old Videos Falsely Linked To Recent Houthi Drone Attack Near Mecca

Two videos are being shared online with the false claim that they show an attack by the Yemeni rebel group Houthis on Mecca, a city considered holy by Muslims.

BOOM found that the videos are old and unrelated. The visuals have no connection to the recent developments in the ongoing West Asia conflict since February this year.

On September 16, Reuters reported that Saudi air defences intercepted and destroyed a Houthi drone south of Mecca on the evening of September 15, before it could enter the prohibited airspace over the holy city. The Houthis have claimed responsibility for several attacks on Saudi Arabia over the past week, including a strike on an air base on September 14, which they said was carried out in retaliation for Saudi airstrikes on Yemen. According to reports, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree denied the allegation via Telegram, saying that their operations are far from the holy sites.

Claim 1: Video shows Saudi Arabia’s air defence destroying Houthi drone launched to target Mecca

Following reports of the incident, a video went viral with the caption, "Saudi Air Defence intercepted and destroyed a drone that entered Mecca's airspace. The Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen says the "attempt to target Mecca with a drone will remain a black mark in the record of Houthi violations"."

Click here to view the post.

Claim 2: Video captures fire incidents following a Houthi-launched attack on Saudi Arabia

Several verified users on X shared the video with the caption, "Sunni Saudi Arabia is under brutal attack by Shia Houthis. Mecca is also targeted."

Click here to view the post.

What We Found: Videos Are Old And Unrelated

Video 1: We broke the video into keyframes and found that the same video was posted by the Yemeni news outlet Belqees TV on September 12, 2025, with an Arabic caption that translates to: "A missile intercepted over Medina, while Saudi authorities remain silent."

According to an X post by Saudi Arabian news outlet Inside The Haramain on September 12, 2025, a source told the outlet that an unauthorised drone was intercepted and shot down at approximately 5:40 am on Thursday in the holy city of Madinah, and that the case was closed. The outlet had earlier urged people to refrain from speculation about the incident and wait for verified information from official sources.

Video 2: We extracted keyframes from the video and found multiple posts from 2022 featuring the same footage. These posts identified the visuals as showing a fire at a Saudi Aramco facility in Jeddah.

Reuters reported on March 26, 2022, that the Saudi-led coalition said an Aramco petroleum products distribution station in Jeddah had been struck in an attack claimed by Yemen's Houthis. The incident caused a fire in two storage tanks, but no casualties were reported.