The Siege of Mecca/The Forgotten Uprising / Yaroslav Trofimov

The Siege of Mecca is an astonishing work of reportage; a gripping account of one of the most dramatic events of the twentieth century. And, until now, one of the most shrouded in secrecy. On the morning of 20th November 1979, the first of a new Muslim century, with world attention focused on Tehran as the hostage crisis entered a third week, hundreds of gunmen, from more than a dozen countries, armed with rifles smuggled inside coffins stormed the Grand Mosque in Mecca. These men were defiling Islam’s holiest shrine and launching the first operation of global jihad in modern times. Led by a Saudi preacher named Juhayman al Uteybi, they believed the Saudi royal family had become corrupt and sought a return to the glory of uncompromising Islam.