Saudi Arabia said debris from two ballistic missiles ​intercepted by its air defences fell in the Mecca ‌region on Wednesday, as the kingdom and Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis continued to trade attacks in an escalating conflict.

Saudi state television identified the locations as Sabuhah village, ​about 35 km (22 miles) northeast of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, ​and Wadi al-Maghmas, about 21 km east of the ⁠mosque, Reuters reported.

The missiles were launched towards the region and intercepted and destroyed, ​Saudi Arabia’s civil defence said in a statement.

The Houthis have repeatedly denied ​Saudi accusations that they target Mecca and Medina, Islam’s two holiest cities, saying their military operations are directed at military and strategic targets elsewhere in Saudi Arabia.

Mecca, ​home to sites sacred to Muslims worldwide, is the focal ​point of the annual hajj pilgrimage, one of the five pillars of Islam, which ‌millions ⁠of Muslims undertake each year.

“This hostile targeting of civilian objects constitutes a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and reflects the dangerous hostile approach pursued by the Houthi militia,” Saudi Arabia’s civil defence said ​early on Thursday.

The ​Houthis seized ⁠Yemen’s capital Sanaa in 2014, prompting Saudi Arabia to intervene militarily the following year in support of ​the internationally recognised government.

A UN-brokered truce in 2022 largely ​froze ⁠the conflict, but hostilities resumed earlier this year, with the Houthis launching missile and drone attacks on Saudi territory and Riyadh carrying out airstrikes ⁠in ​Yemen.

The latest escalation has threatened the strategic Bab ​el-Mandeb Strait, a key shipping route linking the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

Iran defended a proposal on Monday to restart peace talks in as ​few as two days as the ‌most reasonable offer on the table, after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called some of ​Iran’s conditions “outrageous and ridiculous”, Reuters reported.

“Is it unreasonable that ​Iran demands that US illegal sanctions ⁠and its naval blockade must be lifted ​before negotiations start and that the war should ​end on all fronts?” Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei told a weekly press conference in response to ​Rubio’s remarks.

Iran defended a proposal on Monday to restart peace talks in as ​few as two days as the ‌most reasonable offer on the table, after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called some of ​Iran’s conditions “outrageous and ridiculous”.

“Is it unreasonable that ​Iran demands that US illegal sanctions ⁠and its naval blockade must be lifted ​before negotiations start and that the war should ​end on all fronts?” Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei told a weekly press conference in response to ​Rubio’s remarks.

Explosions were heard on Saturday evening in several areas in southern Iran, including on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian state ​television reported.

Iran’s state TV suggested that the explosions might be linked to ‌Iranian military activities in the strategic waterway, which has become subject to repeated attacks on commercial shipping since the war erupted between the US and Iran in February.

It said Iranian officials have ​not confirmed any missile strikes on the areas, while the semi-official Tasnim news ​agency cited a source as saying that the explosions heard on Qeshm ⁠Island were not related to missile strikes.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Navy said early on ​Sunday that two oil tankers were on fire after hitting mines as they attempted to ​pass through an “unauthorized route” in the strait. It was not immediately clear if the incidents referred to by the IRGC were linked to the sound of explosions heard in southern Iranian areas.

Iran has hit ​vessels it says have violated its restrictions on passage through the waterway, as it ​seeks to assert control over the strait and exert pressure on Washington.

Earlier on Saturday, Tasnim news agency ‌said ⁠two missiles struck Qeshm Island with no official information on possible damage.

The reported explosions come days after the US carried out strikes on the island. A US official said those strikes were limited and not a resumption of major combat operations.

The US military said on ​Saturday evening that its ​forces disabled a commercial ⁠vessel that tried to get through the US blockade of Iran.

The US Central Command said one of its aircraft fired at ​the vessel’s stern and disabled the ship after it attempted to ​violate the ⁠blockade.

Countries in the region had been anticipating that US President Donald Trump, who has held off on strikes on Iran during the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s midterm elections, could ⁠restart ​attacks once the voting was over. Iran has repeatedly ​said it would respond to new attacks by striking at US and Israeli targets in neighboring countries.