Claim: A video shows the Saudi army offering prayers before going to war with Yemen’s Houthi group in September.
Fact: The video can be traced back to May when Saudi Arabia held a military parade ahead of the annual Islamic pilgrimage of Hajj.
On 15 September 2026, Pakistani news outlet Suno News HD posted a video of a large crowd in beige army uniforms offering prayers. The caption reads:
“جنگ کے دوران وقت نماز، سعودی فوجیوں نے صف باندھ لی”
#sunonewshd #SaudiArabia #Yemen #SaudiArabiaYemenWar #SaudiArabianArmy #Prayer”
[Translation: “Saudi soldiers formed rows for prayer during the war.
#sunonewshd #SaudiArabia #Yemen #SaudiArabiaYemenWar #SaudiArabianArmy #Prayer”]
Viral video posted on Suno News HD on 15 September 2026
Houthi-Saudi clashes
On 8 September 2026, Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry released a statement condemning recent attacks by Yemen’s Houthi group on its “civilian and economic assets in Abha, Khamis Mushait, Jazan, and Najran.” According to the ministry, the attacks injured 73 civilians, including women and children.
Reuters published a pre-recorded video message from Houthi military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree. According to the transcription published with the video, the Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack and called it a retaliation for the “unjust and brutal aggression against their people, targeting the provinces of Marib, Al Bayda, Hodeidah, Taiz and Al Jawf with dozens of airstrikes and committing major crimes.”
In his message, Saree specified that the Houthis carried out a large-scale military operation “targeting Aramco facilities in Abha and Najran, the Economic City, Aramco facilities in Jizan, and the Khamis Mushait Air Base.”
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also condemned the “cowardly attack” by the Houthis and expressed Pakistan’s “unwavering” solidarity with King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and “the brotherly people of Saudi Arabia”.
On 14 September, Saree claimed another large scale drone attack on Saudi Arabia’s King Khalid Airbase. On the same day, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, held urgent discussions with the US Central Command chief Admiral Brad Cooper, after he arrived in Jeddah with his delegation, to discuss “the latest developments in the region.”
On 16 September, the spokesperson of the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, Turki al-Maliki, released a statement on his X account saying they had shot down a drone from the Houthis that was heading towards Makkah.
PM Shehbaz condemned the attack in “the strongest possible terms”. The premier wrote on his X account, “Pakistan stands unwaveringly, shoulder to shoulder with the brotherly Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in the defence of its sovereignty, and territorial integrity, as well as for the security and sanctity of the Haramain Sharifain – a duty that every Pakistani carries close to their heart.”
On the other hand, the Houthis rejected the news as “a lie”. A member of the group’s political bureau Hazim al-Assad penned on his X account, “The claims about targeting Makkah are a worn-out lie that has been used before and no longer fools anyone.”
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check first looked for credible news reports about Saudi Arabia formally announcing a war against Houthis, and if any outlet had reported on the clip under investigation. However, the search yielded no results.
A reverse-image search of the video led to a Facebook post on 21 May 2026 that included images of soldiers offering prayers. The images seemed like stills from the video under investigation. According to the post’s caption, the images are from the military parade conducted ahead of the Islamic pilgrimage of Hajj, earlier this year, on 21 May 2026.
Another link led to a YouTube video posted by a Saudi-based vlogger named Zubair Riaz. On 23 May 2026, Riaz posted a 15-minute vlog, titled ‘EXCLUSIVE: HAJJ Security MILITARY Parade 😳⚡Rare Access to Saudi’s MASSIVE Security System’, which showed hundreds of security officers taking part in the military parade.
A section of this video, titled “Namaz Time During Special Hajj Security Massive Military Parade’. The footage from timestamp 3:53 till 4:08 included a clearer version of the video under investigation. Soch Fact Check also compared the screengrabs from both the clips to match a landmark visible in the background.
A similar landmark in the background confirms the match between the clip under investigation and the original clip from May 2026.
Since the video can be traced back to May 2026 with a different context, Soch Fact Check concluded that the clip is not related to the ongoing clashes between Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Houthi group.
Virality
Soch Fact Check first came across a viral post on Facebook with as many as 300 likes and 23 shares.
Pakistani news outlet Suno News HD also posted the video on their Facebook account where it received 10,500 likes and 528 shares.
Conclusion: The video of Saudi soldiers offering namaz is not related to the country’s ongoing clashes with Yemen’s Houthi group. The clip can be traced back to May 2026 when Saudi Arabia held a military parade ahead of the annual Islamic pilgrimage of Hajj.
To appeal against our fact-check, please send an email to appeals@sochfactcheck.com