From dawn, crowds of pilgrims gathered in the valley of Mina, southeast of the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia, to throw pebbles at concrete pillars symbolising the devil.It reenacts the Prophet Abraham's stoning of the devil at three places where Satan is said to have tried to dissuade him from obeying God's command to sacrifice his son Ishmael.The white-robed pilgrims have been contending with searing desert heat as they perform the days-long, mostly outdoor rituals, with temperatures reaching 44C in Mecca and Mina on Wednesday.After more than 1,300 died at the 2024 hajj, when temperatures soared past 50C, Saudi authorities ramped up anti-heat measures including giant fans, mist sprayers, cooled floors and trucks distributing drinking water.More than 1.7 million people are taking part in the hajj this year, slightly up from 2025 despite the Middle East war in which Iranian drones and missiles targeted sites in Saudi Arabia and its Gulf neighbours for several weeks.The Strait of Hormuz, which normally carries one-fifth of global oil output, remains largely blockaded as a stop-start US-Iran peace process unfolds, dealing a blow to Gulf exporters and sending energy prices soaring.'Extreme hardship'