Haj pilgrim numbers surpass 2025 arrivals despite Middle East war

Over 1.5 million pilgrims have reached Saudi Arabia from outside the kingdom for the upcoming Haj, according to a Saudi official, exceeding the number of international visitors last year despite the war in the Middle East. The conflict triggered by the US and Israeli strikes on Iran in late February saw Tehran order waves of strikes on targets in Saudi Arabia and across the Gulf, prompting widespread air traffic disruptions and causing travel costs to surge. Major Gulf airlines in the UAE, Qatar and Bahrain have worked to quickly restore much of their operational capacity after weeks of airspace closures and flight cancellations. Despite the complications, pilgrims have continued to flock to Saudi Arabia to participate in this year’s Haj. “The total number of pilgrims arriving from abroad has reached 1,518,153,” Saleh Al-Murabba, the commander of Saudi Arabia’s Haj Passport Forces, told a press conference late Friday. These figures are expected to rise further over the next two days as pilgrims continue to arrive from abroad ahead of the formal rituals that mark the beginning of the Haj on Monday. Last year, the total number of pilgrims reached 1,673,320, including 1,506,576 from outside Saudi Arabia. Haj is one of the five pillars of Islam and must be performed at least once by all Muslims with the means.