Grand Mosque seizure

On 20 November 1979, the last day of the Islamic year 1399, a group of several hundred armed militants seized the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, during dawn prayers attended by an estimated 50,000 worshippers. The insurgents, who called themselves "al-Ikhwan," were led by Juhayman al-Otaybi, a former National Guard corporal and preacher opposed to the House of Saud. They killed two policemen armed only with clubs, chained the mosque gates shut, and took hostages, later releasing most while retaining some in the sanctuary. The militants took up defensive and sniper positions in the mosque's upper levels and minarets. An employee of the Saudi Binladin Group, then renovating the mosque, managed to alert the outside world before insurgents cut telephone lines.

The group's stated goals centered on opposing Saudi ties to Western powers and secularizing policies, and on the announcement that Muhammad Abdullah al-Qahtani, one of the militants' leaders, was the Mahdi, a redeemer figure expected before Judgment Day. Initial attempts by roughly 100 Ministry of Interior officers to retake the mosque failed with heavy casualties, prompting deployment of the Saudi Arabian Army and National Guard. King Khalid delegated command to Prince Sultan and Prince Nayef, as Crown Prince Fahd and National Guard commander Prince Abdullah were abroad. France sent GIGN operatives to advise Saudi forces, and Pakistani Special Service Group personnel also assisted; accounts differ on whether French commandos entered the mosque directly or solely provided training and planning. Saudi forces used tear gas and, according to one account, drilled holes into the courtyard to drop grenades into underground chambers before militants were forced into the open. The siege lasted more than two weeks, with the mosque secured by 4 December 1979. Officially reported casualties were 255 pilgrims, troops and militants killed and around 560 injured, though diplomats suggested the toll was higher; a Wikipedia figure states 270 died in total, with military casualties of 127 dead and 451 injured.

Al-Qahtani was killed during the retaking of the mosque. Juhayman al-Otaybi and 67 other surviving militants were captured and subsequently sentenced to death by a Saudi religious council on charges including violating the mosque's sanctity and killing fellow Muslims. On 9 January 1980, 63 of the condemned were publicly beheaded across eight Saudi cities.

The event occurred amid the Islamic Revolution in Iran and prompted regional unrest after Ayatollah Khomeini publicly suggested, without evidence, that the United States and Israel were behind the seizure. This contributed to anti-American riots in several Muslim-majority countries, including the burning of the U.S. embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, and an attack on the U.S. embassy in Tripoli, Libya. In the aftermath, King Khalid granted increased authority to Saudi religious scholars, leading to stricter enforcement of Islamic law, restrictions on media depictions of women, closures of cinemas and music shops, and expanded powers for religious police.