1979 Grand Mosque seizure
The
Grand Mosque seizure[6] occurred during November and December 1979 when armed civilians calling for the overthrow of the
House of Saud took over
Masjid al-Haram in
Mecca,
Saudi Arabia. The insurgents declared that the
Mahdi (the "redeemer of Islam") had arrived in the form of one of their leaders, Mohammed Abdullah al-Qahtani, and called on Muslims to obey him. For nearly two weeks
Saudi Special Forces, advised by three
GIGN French commandos,
[7] fought battles to reclaim the compound.
[8]
1979 Grand Mosque seizure | |
---|
Belligerents | |
---|
Commanders and leaders | |
---|
Strength | |
---|
Casualties and losses | |
---|
Saudi soldiers fighting their way into the Ka'aba underground beneath the Grand Mosque of Mecca, 1979 | |
| |
Saudi Arabia
France
|
al-Ikhwan[2] |
| |
-
c. 10,000 Saudi National Guard members
-
Three French GIGN commandos[1]
| 300–600 militants[3] |
- 127 killed[4]
- 451 wounded
|
- 117 killed[5]
- Unknown number wounded
- 68 executed
|
The seizure of
Islam's holiest site, the taking of hostages from among the worshippers and the deaths of hundreds of militants, security forces and hostages caught in the crossfire in the ensuing battles for control of the site, shocked the
Islamic world. The siege ended two weeks after the takeover began and the mosque was cleared.
[9] Al-Qahtani was killed in the recapture of the mosque but
Juhayman and 67 of his fellow rebels who survived the assault were captured and later beheaded.
[10][11][12]
Following the attack, the Saudi King Khaled implemented a stricter enforcement of Shariah (Islamic law),[13] he gave the ulama and religious conservatives more power over the next decade, and religious police became more assertive.[14]