Yemen has rejected claims that it launched new drones towards Saudi Arabia, after the Saudi-led coalition said it had thwarted an attack targeting the Mecca region.

In a statement posted on Friday, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, spokesperson for the Yemeni Armed Forces, dismissed as a “great slander” the Saudi claim that a drone had been intercepted in the airspace over Mecca.

Saree stressed that Yemen didn’t carry out any operation against targets deep inside Saudi Arabia on Friday.

His remarks came after the Saudi-led coalition spokesperson Turki al-Maliki claimed earlier in the day that a drone launched by Yemeni forces was intercepted and destroyed in the Mecca region, home to Islam's holiest city.

Despite intensifying hostilities between Yemen and Saudi Arabia, Sana’a stressed that the airspace over Islam's holy cities of Mecca and Medina is safe.

Yemeni scholars call Saudi Mecca claim a ‘pure fabrication,’ say US bases are real threat to Mecca

Yemeni scholars have rejected as a “pure fabrication” Riyadh’s claim that Yemeni forces targeted the holy city of Mecca.

The latest escalation began after Saudi Arabia bombed Sana’a international airport in July. The Yemeni armed forces responded by enforcing a “blockade for blockade” policy and declaring an embargo on Saudi shipping in the Red Sea.

In recent months, the Yemeni military has announced several successful naval operations targeting ships linked to Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea, enforcing the blockade and impacting Riyadh's energy exports.

The Yemeni forces have also carried out retaliatory attack on targets deep inside the kingdom, and made a lightning advance across Yemen’s coastal plain in September, reinforcing control over the strategic Bab al-Mandeb Strait.

Yemenis had warned airlines this month against using the Saudi airspace, saying only the airspace over Islam's holy cities of Mecca and Medina is safe.

The conflict traces back to March 2015, when Saudi Arabia and a US-backed coalition launched a sweeping military campaign and blockade aimed at reinstalling a favorable regime in Sana'a.

Despite years of bombardment and the deployment of advanced Western weaponry, the Saudi coalition has failed to achieve its stated objectives.