Grand Mosque seizure

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. After French operatives provided them with a special type of tear gas that dulls aggression and obstructs breathing, Saudi troops gassed the interior of the Grand Mosque and forced entry. They successfully secured the site after two weeks of fighting. A total of 270 died during the siege and another 68 were subsequently executed.

In the process of retaking the Grand Mosque, the Saudi forces killed al-Qahtani, the self-proclaimed messiah. Juhayman and 68 other militants were captured alive and later sentenced to death by Saudi authorities, being executed by beheading in public displays across a number of Saudi cities. The Ikhwan's siege of the Grand Mosque, which had occurred amidst the Islamic Revolution in nearby Iran, prompted further unrest across the Muslim world. Large-scale anti-American riots broke out in many Muslim-majority countries after Iranian religious cleric Ruhollah Khomeini claimed in a radio broadcast that the Grand Mosque seizure had been orchestrated by the United States and Israel.

Following the attack, Saudi king Khalid bin Abdulaziz enforced a stricter system of Islamic law throughout the country and gave the ulama more power over the next decade. Likewise, Saudi Arabia's Islamic religious police became more assertive.