Iran-backed Houthi rebels seized Yemen’s strategic port city of Mokha on Thursday, marking their biggest territorial gain since a 2022 truce and bringing them closer to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, one of the world’s most important maritime chokepoints at a time when shipping through the Strait of Hormuz is already severely disrupted.
The takeover was confirmed by Houthi and Yemeni officials, including Ahmed Baash, a commander with the government-aligned National Resistance Forces, and Hazam al-Assad, a member of the Houthis’ political bureau. Mokha, which had long been controlled by forces aligned with Yemen’s internationally recognised government, lies about 80 km from Bab el-Mandeb, the narrow waterway connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden. Roughly 12 per cent of global trade normally passes through the route.
Residents said Houthi fighters had spread across major intersections in Mokha, while markets and shops were closed and roads leading into the city from the western coast were blocked. Some residents were reported to be fleeing south towards Aden. Three doctors said they left a hospital after Houthi forces seized it, though these accounts could not immediately be independently verified.
Advance raises shipping concerns
The capture assumes greater international significance because Bab el-Mandeb has become an increasingly important alternative for energy shipments following disruption to the Strait of Hormuz during the Iran conflict. Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, has increasingly relied on the Red Sea route as Hormuz traffic has fallen sharply.
The Houthis have also advanced along Yemen’s Red Sea coast towards the strategically located Hanish Islands, according to Yemeni military sources, potentially giving them greater leverage over shipping through Bab el-Mandeb. Government-aligned forces were reported to be repositioning farther south towards Dhubab, directly overlooking the strait and opposite Perim Island.
The Houthi-run humanitarian operations coordination centre said Red Sea navigation remained safe for shipping companies other than Saudi vessels. Houthi spokesperson Mohammed Abdulsalam described the group’s operations as defensive and said they would cease when attacks on Yemen ended.
Concern over the possibility of disruption to a second major oil transit route contributed to a sharp rise in crude prices on Thursday, with Brent climbing as much as four per cent to around $105 a barrel.
Truce faces its gravest test
The latest advance represents a serious deterioration in the fragile calm that followed the UN-brokered truce of 2022. Yemen’s civil war began after the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa in 2014, eventually prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene in support of the internationally recognised government. The conflict killed more than 150,000 people and produced one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
Fighting has intensified across western Yemen in recent weeks. Houthi forces recently captured the al-Shaqira area, an important supply route connecting Taiz and inland regions with the western coast. Government forces have carried out airstrikes against Houthi reinforcements west of Taiz, while clashes have also spread towards southern Hodeidah and other strategically important supply corridors.
Houthi-controlled Al-Masirah television claimed Saudi-backed forces had conducted about 40 airstrikes across Taiz, Jawf, Hodeidah and Marib provinces in recent hours. The claim could not independently be verified, and government forces did not immediately comment.
The seizure of Mokha now raises the prospect that Yemen could slide back into full-scale civil war while becoming an increasingly important front in the wider confrontation involving Iran and its regional adversaries. Beyond the consequences for Yemen’s population, any sustained threat to Bab el-Mandeb could further squeeze global energy and commercial shipping at a moment when another of the region’s crucial maritime gateways, the Strait of Hormuz, is already under severe pressure.