Houthis reportedly seize Mocha as Yemen offensive pushes towards Bab al-Mandab
The reported capture of the Red Sea port city has intensified concerns over maritime security and the regional spread of Yemen’s war.
Houthi forces have reportedly seized the strategic Red Sea port city of Mocha as their offensive against Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces intensified, according to France 24 and AFP. A Yemeni military source said the group had also taken Zuqar Island and was advancing towards the Bab al-Mandab strait.
Witnesses told AFP that Houthi fighters entered Mocha, while Tarek Saleh, head of the Yemeni National Resistance Forces, said his forces had withdrawn and moved their command centre to a safe location. The reported territorial gains have not been independently verified.
The Houthi military spokesman, Yahya Saree, said Saudi Arabia had carried out 64 strikes on Yemen in the preceding 24 hours. The claims followed reported Houthi attacks on southern Saudi Arabia that wounded dozens of people.
The Houthis already control much of northern Yemen, including Sanaa and the Red Sea port of Hodeidah. They have previously disrupted shipping in the Red Sea with drones and missiles, but the reported capture of territory near Mocha would place the group closer to the Bab al-Mandab strait without establishing that it controls the waterway.
Residents from Mocha and nearby areas reportedly fled towards Aden amid fighting, looting and worsening insecurity. AFP estimated that more than 500 people, mostly combatants, had been killed since the previous week, while the International Organization for Migration reported nearly 20,000 displaced.
The fighting resumed in July after a period of relative calm that followed a United Nations-brokered ceasefire in 2022. The United Nations Security Council met on Thursday, with Yemen envoy Hans Grundberg warning that the conflict could become a far more dangerous regional crisis.
