Hundreds of thousands of Muslims have once again travelled to Mecca in Saudi Arabia for the Hajj pilgrimage, despite the ongoing threat posed by the war in Iran.
Official figures show 1.5 million worshippers arrived from abroad alone ahead of the start of the annual pilgrimage on Monday.
After circling the Kaaba, the stone cube-shaped holy building inside the Grand Mosque in Mecca, pilgrims headed to the nearby Mina valley, some eight kilometres away, where they will spend the night in a massive tent city.
