The world listened to the shocking news of Yemen’s Houthi rebels targeting a ballistic missile at the holy city of Makkah with shock yesterday.

The Saudi Air Defence was able to intercept the ballistic missile launched by Houthi militias on Thursday evening from the province of Saada towards the Makkah area. The missile was destroyed about 65km away from Makkah without causing any damage.

Qatar was quick to express its strong condemnation of the attack.

In a statement, Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that ‘launching a missile toward the city of Makkah is a blatant assault on the sanctity of the kingdom and the Islamic holy sites and it represents a provocation to the feelings of millions of Muslims around the world,’ Qatar News Agency reported.

The ministry said the attack hampers all efforts to reach a political solution to the Yemeni crisis.

GCC secretary-general Dr Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani expressed the GCC’s strong condemnation of the targeting of Makkah by the Houthi-Saleh group.

“The GCC states considered this brutal assault as a provocation to the feelings of Muslims and disrespect to the sanctity of Islamic holy sites,” Al Zayani said.