How the 1979 siege of Makkah unfolded

Makkah’s Grand Mosque under attack in November 1979. Armed men seized the mosque, locking 100,000 pilgrims and residents inside. (AFP)
Updated 20 November 2019
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How the 1979 siege of Makkah unfolded

JEDDAH: Throughout October 1979, close to a million Muslims from around the world had flooded into Makkah for Hajj, the pilgrimage to the spiritual heart of Islam that every physically and financially able believer is obliged to complete at least once in their lifetime.

On the morning of Nov. 20, the call to the first prayer summoned pilgrims from far and wide to the courtyard of the Grand Mosque.

Some were locals, others were visitors who had finished their Hajj pilgrimage two weeks earlier and delayed their departure to take part in this once-in-a-lifetime event, before bidding farewell to a place that for centuries had seen countless millions like them come and go.

It was a little after 5:15 a.m. The first shots rang out across the courtyard moments after the imam, 55-year-old Sheikh Mohammed Al-Subayil, had finished the fajr, the first prayer of the day.

Worshippers stood side by side, forming a circular formation around the Kaaba, as they welcomed the dawn of the new Islamic century. But among their number was a group of fanatics the like of which the Holy Mosque had never seen before.

In the courtyard behind where Al-Subayil stood, the siege of the mosque claimed its first victims — two unarmed police guards gunned down at their posts.

As chaos ensued and the worshippers began to disperse, some managing to flee from the mosque in the confusion before the gates were closed by the attackers, three armed men pushed their way through the crowd toward the imam.

One, dressed in a short, ragged traditional dress, took the microphone and began issuing orders over the mosque’s loudspeakers.  “Get on the minarets! Position the snipers! Close the doors! Deploy the guards! Position the guards and sentinels in front of the doors!”

It was the ring-leader, Juhayman Al-Otaibi. Then he handed the microphone to another man, and what he had to say shocked the imam and all who heard it.

The Mahdi, in the shape of Mohammed bin Abdullah Al-Qahtani, had arrived to wipe the world of its evils and was here among the armed men who had seized the mosque and were now locking inside 100,000 pilgrims and residents. The speaker rejected the authority of the Saudi royal family and the ulema, the senior theologians of Islam, as illegitimate. Now everyone present, he said, must come forward to swear the oath of allegiance to the Mahdi.

The man himself, carrying an automatic weapon, stepped forward. He stood near the Kaaba, as the false prophecy adopted by the renegades had predicted the Mahdi would. Juhayman’s men took it in turns to swear their allegiance and then began forcing the worshippers to follow suit.

In the confusion, the imam blended into the crowd and made his way to his office in the mosque. There, he called Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad Al-Rashid, president of the General Presidency for the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques, and told him what was going on — and held the phone up so he could hear the gunshots that were ringing out.

At first, the official response to the wholly unanticipated outrage was confused.

“When these individuals took over the mosque, the first people to deal with them were the mosque police, who at that time were simply unarmed, and there to direct people where to go rather than to enforce security,” said Prince Turki, the then head of the General Intelligence Directorate who at the time of the attack was in Tunis, attending an Arab League summit with Crown Prince Fahd bin Abdul Aziz (later King Fahd).




The National Guard and the Saudi Army began arriving at the Grand Mosque in force to try to retake the building. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz (later King Abdullah), then head of the National Guard, was in Morocco. An early-morning phone call from Sheikh Nasser,
the senior cleric in charge of Makkah and Madinah, woke King Khaled to the news that the mosque had been seized. 

The king immediately ordered two senior members of the government, Defense Minister Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, and Interior Minister Prince Naif bin Abdul Aziz, to assess the situation on the ground.

By 9 a.m. they had joined Makkah’s regional governor, Prince Fawwaz bin Abdul Aziz, in the holy city. Prince Turki, meanwhile, was on the first plane back to Jeddah. In Makkah the National Guard and the Saudi Army had begun arriving at the mosque in force.

At about 8 a.m., a lone police officer approaching the mosque in a jeep was wounded by sniper fire. Minutes later, a fusillade of fire from snipers posted on rooftops and in minarets greeted more officers who arrived on another side of the mosque, killing eight and wounding 36 more.

The behavior of the militants appalled all who witnessed it. In one incident, one of Juhayman’s snipers in a minaret had been shot dead by the security forces outside the mosque and was callously pushed to the ground from the balcony by his compatriots.

It later emerged that weapons, ammunition and food had been smuggled into the mosque before the siege. Some guns had been hidden in large construction containers. But others, taking advantage of the tradition of Islamic funeral prayers conducted by the imam within the sacred mosque, had been concealed in coffins.

“Using coffins of the dead to smuggle arms into the Grand Mosque — who could have thought of exploiting this?” said Rashed Al-Shashai, an artist who as a young boy heard tales of the siege from his grandfather, who worked at the mosque and narrowly avoided being taken hostage.

Inside the mosque, fear and confusion reigned. Juhayman’s men had begun allowing some of the hostages to leave, but it was clear that they had no intention of freeing any Saudis. Many were forced to swear allegiance to the so-called Mahdi.

With others, Al-Shashai’s grandfather moved toward the north of the mosque. As the infamous Mahdi “sermon” blared out of the speakers and occasional shots rang out, they hid behind pillars and looked for a way out.

“They had one of two choices,” said Al-Shashai. “Either they believe in the salvation of Juhayman or believe in their own salvation, search for it themselves and get out of the dilemma they found themselves in.”

They chose the latter and continued moving from one pillar to the next, heading toward the northern end of the Safa-Marwa gallery. It was here that several people, including Al-Shashai’s grandfather, were able to escape. 

By now the courtyard of the Grand Mosque, normally teeming with worshippers by this time on the first day of the new year, was eerily empty.

Juhayman’s men had forced men, women and children into the corridors of the mosque, and the silence was broken only by the crack of bullets as snipers fired on the surrounding security forces.

Juhayman: 40 years on
On the anniversary of the 1979 attack on Makkah's Grand Mosque, Arab News tells the full story of an unthinkable event that shocked the Islamic world and cast a shadow over Saudi society for decades

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How AI can be leveraged to reduce food loss, improve nutrition, and cut emissions

Updated 15 min 2 sec ago
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How AI can be leveraged to reduce food loss, improve nutrition, and cut emissions

  • By optimizing food processing at its source, AI is playing a role in reducing emissions and making food production more sustainable
  • Preservation techniques, such as freeze-drying and 3D printing, are being optimized with AI to create long-lasting, nutritious products

RIYADH: Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing nearly every industry, and food production is no exception. From precision farming to lab-grown meat, AI is enabling more sustainable, efficient, and innovative ways to feed the world’s growing population.

One of the most promising applications is the use of AI to tackle food loss — one of the biggest challenges facing global food security. Each year, an estimated $1 trillion worth of food is lost before it even reaches consumers due to spoilage, supply chain inefficiencies, and market rejections.

But AI-powered solutions are beginning to change that, helping to extend shelf life, maximize nutritional value, and reduce environmental impact.

At the forefront of this movement is Essence Food, a company that has combined AI, 3D printing, and advanced freeze-drying techniques to transform surplus produce into nutrient-rich, long-lasting food products.

Essence Food's CEO and founder Marcio Barradas explaining the concept of his company at a forum. (Instagram: 3dessencefood)

Led by CEO and founder Marcio Barradas, the company is pioneering a data-driven approach to food preservation, proving that cutting-edge technology can turn food loss into opportunity — benefiting both the planet and public health.

During a 2017 TED talk, Barradas highlighted the crucial difference between food loss and food waste. He explained that food loss occurs early in the supply chain, before products reach consumers, while food waste happens at the consumer level.

The consequences of food loss are significant, leading to a drastic reduction in the volume of food available for consumption. Several factors contribute to this issue, including poor yields, quality inconsistencies, spoilage, and inefficiencies in transportation and storage.

One particularly troubling aspect of food loss is the rejection of perfectly edible fruits and vegetables by retailers due to aesthetic imperfections. This practice results in vast quantities of nutritious food being discarded before it ever reaches a plate.

By integrating AI with the freeze-drying process, Essence Food repurposes surplus and rejected produce that might otherwise go to waste. (Supplied)

Reflecting on his TED talk, Barradas told Arab News: “It was a call to the industry to wake up and stop wasting foods when they can actually monetize them. So it was sort of from trash to cash.”

Despite growing awareness of food loss, Barradas observed that as recently as 2019, no large-scale solutions had been implemented to tackle the problem effectively. Determined to change this, he launched Essence Food, a company dedicated to reducing food loss through advanced technology.

By integrating AI with the freeze-drying process, Essence Food repurposes surplus and rejected produce that might otherwise go to waste. This not only preserves valuable nutrients but also addresses long-term health and environmental concerns associated with food production.

Freeze-drying, unlike other dehydration methods, retains a greater percentage of a food’s original nutrients while significantly improving shelf life and product quality. These advantages make it an ideal technology for tackling food loss on a global scale.

After its initial launch in Spain, Essence Food quickly expanded its footprint in the Middle East, beginning with the UAE and now moving into Saudi Arabia.

Visitors attend a demo of Essence Food at the Gulfood in Dubai. (Supplied)

“We presented it at Gulfood in Dubai, and amazingly, we won as most innovative startup back in 2019,” said Barradas, referring to the company’s 3D-printed products, which have been showcased at the prestigious food industry event.

“This allowed us to expand very fast in the region and start to see how we can optimize all the resources that exist, knowing there is a region that imports the majority of its fruits and vegetables.

“Encouraged by winning that award at Gulfood, what I saw is that in the Middle East, there is an advantage compared to Europe. It’s less bureaucratic. When the decision-makers here believe in something, they will bring it to the front and it will be implemented.”

Although freeze-drying and 3D printing are not new technologies, AI has revolutionized their efficiency. When Barradas founded Essence Food, the company was already “very proactive with machine learning.

“All our data was being stored and analyzed in terms of accelerating the processes, having better decision-making, and also using that machine-learning capacity to really teach our machines.”

As the company worked to develop a more efficient freeze-dryer, AI emerged as the key to optimizing the technique. (Supplied)

As the company worked to develop a more efficient freeze-dryer, AI emerged as the key to optimizing the technique. “Now, the age of AI came really strong in the last two years. So, what we’re doing is a virtual library,” said Barradas.

Every fruit or vegetable that enters Essence Food’s freeze-drying process undergoes rigorous analysis in a laboratory. Strawberries, bananas, tomatoes, beetroot — each ingredient is tested to determine its precise nutritional content.

The data collected is then fed into a virtual AI library, creating a vast database of nutritional insights. This system allows for an unprecedented level of food customization, tailored to individual dietary needs.

DID YOU KNOW?

• Food loss occurs early in the supply chain, often due to spoilage and market rejection, while food waste happens at the consumer level.

• Preservation techniques, such as freeze-drying and 3D printing, are being optimized with AI to create long-lasting, nutritious products.

• By optimizing food processing at its source, AI is playing a role in reducing emissions and making food production more sustainable.

“Having that library connected now with AI, you can only imagine how we can customize food for each individual.”

Barradas envisions a future where AI-driven food technology plays a direct role in preventive healthcare. Through Essence Food’s new smartphone app, users will be able to personalize their nutrition with nutrient-rich foods, including a healthier take on gummy bears.

“If I connect your mobile device, which you use every day, and it knows your steps and habits, everything is stored there. If you connect to this app that we are launching, you’ll be able to have customized gummy bears for the whole week,” he said.

“So, you’ll take two gummy bears a day, or one gummy bear a day, not to cure any disease, but to prevent you from getting any disease.”

Visitors get a taste of samples of Essence Food products at the Gulfood in Dubai. (Supplied)

He believes that modern diets have led to an over-reliance on supplements and pharmaceuticals. “We are only dealing with the consequences, with the symptoms, but we’re not fighting the causes,” he said.

Beyond nutrition, machine learning is also driving new sustainability initiatives within Essence Food’s freeze-drying technology.

One of the company’s most innovative breakthroughs is the recovery of water from fruits during the drying process. This reclaimed water has the potential to support vertical farming and other water-scarce agricultural initiatives.

“There’s something really amazing in this technology,” said Barradas. “It doesn’t need water, but it brings back water. So, any time you freeze-dry in the machine, it gives you potable water that was inside the fruits.”

The implications of this discovery are particularly relevant for regions like Saudi Arabia, where water scarcity is a pressing issue.

Some of the dried fresh fruit products of Essence Food. (Instagram: 3dessencefood)

“If we load the machine with 40 kg of strawberries, we will be removing 35 liters, 32 liters, of potable water,” said Barradas.

This water recovery system can be integrated with vertical farming operations, creating a closed-loop system where food loss is minimized and essential resources are conserved.

“We want to create a synergy with vertical farming, where we recover food losses from these vertical farms in the desert, and with the water that we recover, we create more food,” said Barradas.

“Because Saudi Arabia, being such a vast region, and knowing the region where dates are grown, it will be amazing to bring the technology to the source and not bring the ingredient to Riyadh, for example, to transform it.

“Because the impact of transport and moving fresh ingredients is really big on the planet. We’re looking to go to the source of the ingredient to minimize everything that has to do with CO2 emissions.”
 

 


Saudi Arabia leads Arab condemnation of Israeli raids on Syrian territory

Updated 03 April 2025
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Saudi Arabia leads Arab condemnation of Israeli raids on Syrian territory

  • Kingdom urges Security Council’s permanent members to address violations in Syria and the region
  • Egypt says raids represent flagrant violation of international law
  • Jordan reiterates support for Syria’s security, stability, sovereignty

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has led Arab condemnation of Israeli airstrikes which violated the Syrian Arab Republic’s sovereignty and resulted in dozens of civilian and military casualties.

The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the Israeli raids were “attempts to threaten the security and stability of Syria and the region through violating international laws.”

The Kingdom urged the UN Security Council’s permanent members to firmly address ongoing Israeli violations in Syria and the region, and called for the activation of accountability mechanisms.

Israeli airstrikes overnight targeted five areas in Syria, including the capital Damascus, and Hama Airport. Multiple people were injured while the actions, and a ground incursion, resulted in 13 fatalities.

Since the fall of the Bashar Assad regime in December, Israel has captured areas of Syria’s southern territory in a bid to keep the forces of the new government back from the border.

Egypt said on Thursday that Israeli raids represented a new and flagrant violation of international law. It called on international actors to compel Israel to end its occupation of Syrian territory and to respect the 1974 Disengagement Agreement.

Jordan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates reiterated Amman’s support for Syria’s security, stability, and sovereignty. It stressed the need for Israel to adhere to international law and UN resolutions that call for respecting state sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs.


Bahrain cabinet minister welcomes new Saudi ambassador in Manama

Hamad bin Faisal Al-Malki (R) and Naif bin Bandar Al-Sudairi at Gudaibiya Palace in Manama. (Supplied)
Updated 03 April 2025
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Bahrain cabinet minister welcomes new Saudi ambassador in Manama

  • Al-Malki highlighted the brotherly relations between the two Gulf kingdoms, describing them as founded on mutual affection

MANAMA: Bahrain’s Minister of Cabinet Affairs Hamad bin Faisal Al-Malki received on Thursday Saudi Arabia’s newly appointed Ambassador Naif bin Bandar Al-Sudairi at Gudaibiya Palace in Manama.

During the official reception, Al-Malki highlighted the brotherly relations between the two Gulf kingdoms, describing them as founded on mutual affection and deep-rooted historical ties that continued to flourish under the leadership of both nations.

Al-Sudairi expressed his commitment to strengthening bilateral cooperation and advancing joint initiatives between the two countries.

 

 


Scientific papers submission closes for Riyadh forum

Updated 03 April 2025
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Scientific papers submission closes for Riyadh forum

  • The two-day conference, themed “The Global Lexicography Industry: Experiences, Efforts, and Prospects,” continues the academy’s mission of advancing Arabic language research

RIYADH: The King Salman Global Academy for Arabic Language has closed submissions of scientific papers for its fourth annual international conference, set for mid-October in Riyadh, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Thursday.

Under the patronage of Saudi Minister of Culture Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan, the event will host experts, linguistic academies and organizations from more than 20 countries.

The two-day conference, themed “The Global Lexicography Industry: Experiences, Efforts, and Prospects,” continues the academy’s mission of advancing Arabic language research.

Abdullah Al-Washmi, secretary-general of the academy, said that the conference would aim to foster collaboration between the academy and linguistic institutions worldwide.

It will serve as a platform for experts to share insights, review successful initiatives in lexicography, and explore ways to modernize dictionary development through emerging technologies and artificial intelligence, he added.

The conference will also highlight key Arabic and international projects while facilitating knowledge exchange among linguists, language academies and technology experts.

 


Saudi Arabia cracks down on environmental violators

Updated 03 April 2025
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Saudi Arabia cracks down on environmental violators

  • Fines for using local firewood and charcoal commercially can reach SR32,000 per cubic meter, while transporting, selling, or storing carries fines of up to SR16,000

RIYADH: The Special Forces for Environmental Security has arrested two Saudis and six expatriates from India, Pakistan, and Yemen for illegally exploiting sedimentary deposits in the Makkah region.

Authorities also seized five soil excavation machines, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Thursday.

In a separate case, a Saudi national was apprehended for grazing 12 camels in restricted areas of the King Abdulaziz Royal Reserve, and faces a fine of SR500 ($133) per camel.

A citizen was arrested in the Eastern Province for setting fires on vegetated land, an offense with a penalty of up to SR3,000.

Three citizens were detained for cutting protective fencing and unauthorized entry into the Imam Turki bin Abdullah Royal Reserve. Fines for fence damage can reach SR100,000, plus compensation, while unauthorized entry carries a SR5,000 fine.

A citizen in Riyadh was caught with two cubic meters of local firewood for commercial use. Fines for using local firewood and charcoal commercially can reach SR32,000 per cubic meter, while transporting, selling, or storing carries fines of up to SR16,000.

Environmental forces also arrested a Nigerian resident in Makkah for burning waste, damaging soil, and polluting the environment. Penalties for such activities can reach up to SR10 million.

Another citizen faces a fine of up to SR3,000 for unauthorized camping in the King Abdulaziz Royal Reserve.

Action has been taken against the violators, and they have been handed over to the relevant authorities.

Citizens are urged to report environmental violations by calling 911 in Makkah, Riyadh, and the Eastern Province, or 999 and 996 elsewhere in the Kingdom.