The Siege of Mecca: The Forgotten Uprising in Islam's Holiest Shrine

by YaroslavTrofimov (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2008

  $11.12

  20 November, 1979: as morning prayers began, hundreds of hardline Islamist gunmen, armed with rifles smuggled in coffins, stormed the Grand Mosque in Mecca. With thousands of terrified worshippers trapped inside, the result was a bloody siege that lasted two weeks, caused hundreds of deaths, prompted an international diplomatic crisis and unleashed forces that would eventually lead to the rise of al Qaeda. Journalist Yaroslav Trofimov takes us day-by-day through one of the most momentous - and heavily censored - events in recent history, interviewing many direct participants in the siege and drawing on secret documents to reveal the truth about the first operation of modern global jihad.

• Used

  Hardcover
  2007

  $11.03

  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.With nearly 100,000 worshippers trapped inside the holy compound, Mecca's bloody siege lasted two weeks, causing hundreds of deaths and inflaming Muslim rage around the world. The Saudi royal family proved haplessly incapable of dislodging the occupiers. In desperation they enlisted the help of French commandos led by the battle-hardened Captain Paul Barril, who prepared the final assault and supplied poison gas that finally knocked out the insurgents. Though most captured gunmen were quickly beheaded, the royal family responded to this unprecedented challenge by compromising with the rebels' supporters among the kingdom's most senior clerics, helping them nurture and export Juhayman's violent brand of Islam around the world.This dramatic story was barely covered in the international media in pre-CNN, pre-al-Jazeera days, as Saudi Arabia imposed an information blackout and kept foreign correspondents away. Yaroslav Trofimov now penetrates this veil of silence, interviewing scores of direct participants in the siege, including former terrorists, for the first time and drawing on hundreds of documents that have been declassified on his request. He reveals how Saudi reaction to the uprising in Mecca set free the forces that would eventually lead to the attacks of 9/11, and to the events unfolding in the world today.

• New

  Paperback
  2008

  $12.36

  20 November, 1979: as morning prayers began, hundreds of hardline Islamist gunmen, armed with rifles smuggled in coffins, stormed the Grand Mosque in Mecca. With thousands of terrified worshippers trapped inside, the result was a bloody siege that lasted two weeks, caused hundreds of deaths, prompted an international diplomatic crisis and unleashed forces that would eventually lead to the rise of al Qaeda. Journalist Yaroslav Trofimov takes us day-by-day through one of the most momentous - and heavily censored - events in recent history, interviewing many direct participants in the siege and drawing on secret documents to reveal the truth about the first operation of modern global jihad.