“The claims and lies spread by the ‘criminal Al Saud regime’ about an attack on Mecca cannot deceive anyone. They themselves are the ones desecrating the holy site through debauchery, immorality, and by bringing in prostitutes. Yemen poses no threat whatsoever to the holy sites. Our operations are directed against the regime’s oil facilities and military bases, which are located far from the holy sites.”

The bitter irony is that, time and again, Muslims themselves have shown little restraint toward their own religious sites in internal power struggles — something we witnessed dramatically during the war in Syria. Israel, by contrast, is held to particularly strict international standards when it comes to its treatment of the holy sites of other religions, even though it makes considerable efforts to protect them.