“It’s an indescribable feeling,” said Ahmed Abu Elez, a 35-year-old Egyptian engineer, when he approached Mount Arafat for the first time.
More than 1.5 million people have participated in Hajj this year despite the shadow of war across the Middle East due to the US and Israel’s war with Iran.
During the fighting, Tehran retaliated with drone and ballistic missile attacks, targeting key infrastructure and energy installations across the Gulf, including in Saudi Arabia.
More than 30,000 Iranians have made the trip, about a third of the 86,000 originally expected. Iran’s IRNA state news agency said “wartime conditions” explained the decline.