OIC plans second meeting on Makkah attack

JEDDAH: The Organization of Islamic Cooperation will hold an urgent meeting of the foreign ministers of OIC member states in Makkah on Thursday.
The meeting will discuss the Houthi militia’s attempt to attack Makkah by launching a ballistic missile in October.
The first emergency ministerial meeting was held in Jeddah by the OIC executive committee on Nov. 5, which discussed the launching of the missile by the Houthi-Saleh militias targeting Makkah.
It condemned in the strongest terms the Houthi rebels, backed by the militias of deposed President Ali Abdullah Saleh, for targeting the holy city with a ballistic missile.
The OIC members were urged to act against those supporting the culprits with arms and consider “an infringement of the Kingdom’s security an infringement of the security and cohesion of the Muslim world as a whole.”
The first meeting affirmed that those backing the Houthi-Saleh militias and supplying them with ballistic missiles and weapons are devoted accomplices in aggression against the holy sites of the Muslim world.
Maha Aqeel, media and public relation director at the OIC, told Arab News that the urgent meeting of foreign ministers will be held in Makkah, the city that was targeted by the Houthis.
The place of the meeting was selected to highlight the religious standing of Makkah among all Muslims.
Saudi ground defenses intercepted late on Oct. 27 a ballistic missile launched by the Houthi militias targeting Makkah. The Arab coalition said that the missile was downed 65 km from Makkah, adding that coalition jet fighters attacked the rocket launchers in Saada and destroyed them.