The Financial Post reports in its Thursday edition that the Saudi-led coalition battling Yemen's Houthis accused them on Wednesday of targeting Islam's holy city Mecca, sparking outrage across the Muslim world. An Agence-France Presse dispatch to the Post reports that the Houthis swiftly rejected as a "lie" Riyadh's statement that it had shot down a drone heading toward Mecca. Fresh fighting between the Iran-backed Houthis and Yemen's Saudi-backed internationally recognized government has dragged in the kingdom, with the Houthis declaring a maritime blockade on its ships in the Red Sea. Last week, the Houthis seized control of the entirety of Yemen's Red Sea coast and the narrow Bab al-Mandab Strait, a vital artery for Saudi oil exports as the wider Middle East war chokes off the Strait of Hormuz shipping route. "The claims about targeting Mecca are a worn-out lie that has been used before and no longer fools anyone," Hazem al-Assad from the Houthi politburo wrote on X. Saudi Arabia has previously accused the Houthis of launching attacks toward Mecca in an earlier conflict. The Saudi coalition vowed retaliation, warning that the security of holy sites was a "red line."