The Siege of Mecca deaths and ending only after the intervention of Saudi National Guard and Special Forces. Yaroslav Trofimov's book provides the first detailed account of this siege. The book is based on interviews with surviving participants and eyewitnesses, including former terrorist supporters of Juhayman al-Otaybi, as well as hundreds of declassified U.S., British and French government documents. The Siege of Mecca The Siege of Mecca: The Forgotten Uprising in Islam's Holiest Shrine and the Birth of Al Qaeda is a 2007 book by Wall Street Journal correspondent Yaroslav Trofimov about the 1979 Grand Mosque seizure in Mecca. Hundreds of Islamic radicals led
Battle of Mecca (883) various responsibilities over the pilgrimage and the Holy Cities. As with Ibn Tulun, 'Amr enjoyed a high degree of independence from the Abbasid government, but unlike the Egyptian ruler he was on relatively cordial terms with the caliphal court during this period, and in regards to Mecca he proved to be particularly jealous to preserve his own rights in the city. Despite these obstacles, Ibn Tulun had made an initial attempt to establish himself in Mecca in 881, when he sent an agent with a detachment of cavalrymen to represent his interests there. Upon their arrival, however, they found themselves