Saudi Arabia Says Will Not Allow Practices That Deviate Hajj from its Objectives

Saudi Arabia said it would not allow the Hajj to be used for any activity that strays from its religious purpose, as more than 1.5 million pilgrims arrived from abroad by Friday afternoon. He made his statement during a press conference by Hajj security commanders at the Unified Security Operations Center (911) in the Makkah region. Officials outlined security, traffic, and organizational plans for this year’s holy pilgrimage, along with related instructions and guidelines. Lt. Gen. Mohammed Al-Bassami, director of Public Security, said the Hajj security system was fully ready to carry out its duties. “Our goal is for pilgrims to reach their destination, perform their rituals, and return home safely,” he stressed. Al-Bassami said crowd management plans focused on regulating pilgrim flows and minimizing overlap between routes. Technology, he said, was playing a key role alongside security personnel on the ground. He said authorities were prepared for various scenarios based on risk assessments, following extensive drills and field exercises to test the readiness of all security agencies. Lt. Gen. Mohammed Al-Omari, commander of the Special Emergency Forces at the Presidency of State Security, described the security plans as “integrated, proactive and flexible.” He said security forces were deployed in the central area and the holy sites to protect pilgrims. Maj. Gen. Dr. Hammoud Al-Faraj, director general of Civil Defense, said preparations for the Hajj season were complete. “We trained all bodies involved in serving pilgrims on self-protection,” he said, adding that male and female volunteers were working alongside Civil Defense personnel across all tasks and operations. Maj. Gen. Dr. Saleh Al-Murabba, commander of the Passports Forces for Hajj, said the “Makkah Route” initiative accounted for 30% of arriving pilgrims. He said 1,518,153 pilgrims had arrived from outside Saudi Arabia by Friday afternoon.