Grand Mosque Seizure
1979 CE.
Shown on the map at 21.422°, 39.826°.
The Grand Mosque seizure took place between 20 November and 4 December 1979 at the Grand Mosque of Mecca in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest site in Islam. The attack was carried out by up to 600 militants led by Juhayman al-Otaybi, a Saudi Islamist opposed to the monarchy, belonging to the Otaibah tribe. The insurgents identified themselves as "al-Ikhwan" (Arabic: الإخوان), referencing the Arabian militia that had played a role in the early formation of the Saudi state in the early 20th century. Scholars refer to them as Juhayman's Ikhwan. The insurgents took hostages from among the worshippers and called for an uprising against the House of Saud, decrying their pursuit of alliances with "Christian infidels" from the Western world, and stating that the Saudi government's policies were betraying Islam by attempting to push secularism into Saudi society. They also declared that the Mahdi (a harbinger of the end of times) had arrived in the form of one of the militants' leaders, Muhammad Abdullah al-Qahtani. Seeking assistance for their counteroffensive against the Ikhwan, the Saudis requested urgent aid from France, which responded by dispatching advisory units from the GIGN.
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