The Siege of Mecca

Blurb

The Siege of Mecca: The Forgotten Uprising in Islam's Holiest Shrine and the Birth of Al Qaeda is a non-fiction book by Wall Street Journal correspondent Yaroslav Trofimov about the 1979 Grand Mosque Seizure in Mecca.
Hundreds of Islamic radicals led by Saudi preacher Juhayman al-Otaybi invaded the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Islam's holiest shrine, on Nov. 20, 1979. The intruders included men from all over the Muslim world and a handful of American converts. Tens of thousands of worshipers were trapped inside the holy compound. The battle for the shrine lasted two weeks, causing hundreds of deaths and ending only after the intervention of 3 GIGN commandos from France.
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.