The Battle of Mecca took place on 5 December 1924 in

Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow v ...

, as part of the Saudi conquest of the Kingdom of Hejaz by King Abdulaziz Ibn Saud of the

Sultanate of Nejd The Sultanate of Nejd ( ar, سلطنة نجد, ') was the third iteration of the Third Saudi State, from 1921 to 1926. It was a monarchy led by the House of Saud. This version of the Third Saudi State was created when Abdul Aziz ibn Saud, Emi ...

. The Hejaz region was ruled as a kingdom under King Hussein bin Ali of the Hashemite family. The battle in Mecca resulted in a Hashemite defeat to the Saudis and the allied Ikhwan fighters.

Background

After the fall of the city of

Ta'if Taif ( ar, , translit=aṭ-Ṭāʾif, lit=The circulated or encircled, ) is a city and governorate in the Makkan Region of Saudi Arabia. Located at an elevation of in the slopes of the Hijaz Mountains, which themselves are part of the Sarat M ...

to Ibn Saud in September 1924, King Hussein bin Ali fled from Mecca to

Jeddah Jeddah ( ), also spelled Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; ar, , Jidda, ), is a city in the Hejaz region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the country's commercial center. Established in the 6th century BC as a fishing village, Jeddah's pro ...

on 6 October 1924 on the advice of Hejazi notables and declared his son Ali bin Hussein the King of Hejaz. From Jeddah, Hussein was transported by the British to

Aqaba Aqaba (, also ; ar, العقبة, al-ʿAqaba, al-ʿAgaba, ) is the only coastal city in Jordan and the largest and most populous city on the Gulf of Aqaba. Situated in southernmost Jordan, Aqaba is the administrative centre of the Aqaba Govern ...

by boat and later to

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...

. The abdication only further emboldened Ibn Saud to march upon Mecca, entering the city of 5 December 1924. The abandonment of the city left behind a cache of weapons in the

Qishla of Mecca The Qishla of Mecca ( ar, قشلة مكة; tr, Mekke Redif Kışlası) was a fortress in Mecca, in what is now Saudi Arabia. Built in the eighteenth century as a military castle of the Ottoman Army, the building was located in the ''Jarwal distri ...

which were recovered by Saudi forces.

Aftermath

Ibn Saud declared that Ali bin Hussein was to leave Hejaz as a pre-requisite for peace and that the invasion of Hejaz was to 'guarantee the liberty of pilgrimage and to settle the destiny of the Holy Land in a manner satisfactory to the Islamic world'. Following the capture of Mecca, Ali and the remaining Hejazi forces were concentrated in the port city of

which would later be besieged in January 1925 by the Saudi forces. The siege lasted until 16 December 1925 when, with British mediation, Sharif Ali surrendered and left the city for

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

. In the same month, Ibn Saud declared himself King of Hejaz in addition to Sultan of Nejd.

Background

Aftermath

See also

References

Further reading