Yemen · updated 1h ago · 3 min read
Houthis Seize Mocha, Advance Toward Hanish Islands and Bab El-Mandeb Strait
Houthis captured Mocha and moved toward Bab al-Mandab, threatening a global shipping chokepoint. They reached the Hanish islands off Yemen's Red Sea coast.
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Mocha seized, Bab el-Mandeb
Iran-aligned Houthis seized Yemen’s strategic Red Sea port city of Mocha on Thursday and advanced down the Red Sea coast toward strategic islands, with Yemeni government military sources saying they had reached the islands of Hanish.
“Iran-backed Houthi forces seized Yemen’s strategic port city of Mocha on Thursday”
The advance toward the Bab el-Mandeb Strait raised alarm because the strait is the southern outlet of the Red Sea and one of the world’s most important shipping routes, and the Houthis’ leverage could extend to ships traveling between Asia, Africa and Europe.
A senior Yemen advisor at the European Institute of Peace, Hisham Al-Omeisy, warned that “Now you have Iran on one side of the Arabian Peninsula controlling Hormuz, and now the Houthis controlling Bab el-Mandeb on the other side of the peninsula,” describing the effect on prices.
A senior administration official told Fox News Digital that “The United States is focused on protecting our core national security interests — such as ensuring freedom of navigation in the Red Sea,” while empowering regional partners to manage and resolve security challenges.
Competing claims and warnings
Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam said Red Sea navigation was safe for all shipping companies except for Saudi vessels, with the Yemen’s Houthi-run humanitarian operations coordination center stating that “Red Sea navigation is safe for all shipping companies except for Saudi vessels.”
In contrast, Yemen’s internationally recognized Presidential Leadership Council chairman Rashad al-Alimi warned that developments around Mocha port and Bab al-Mandeb “are not a purely Yemeni affair”, but a regional and international matter tied to global trade.
Al Jazeera reported that the Yemeni government tried to put up a fight but “the overwhelming military pressure of the Ansar Allah Houthis eventually [led to them taking] over the port and the city itself,” quoting correspondent Yousef Mawry.
On the diplomatic track, Al Jazeera said Afrah al-Zouba sent a message to the United Nations Security Council calling for a firm international stance on the situation on Yemen’s western coast.
Oil, shipping, and escalation risk
The Mocha seizure sharpened concerns about a second shipping chokepoint, with Reuters reporting that if the Houthis were to impose a stranglehold over the waterway it could give their sponsor Iran a critical advantage in the war with the United States and send oil prices surging.
“a direct presence on the approaches to one of the world’s most vital straits”
Brent crude prices jumped as much as 4% on Thursday to $105 a barrel on concern over disruption to supply routes, while the Business Insider Africa report said Brent rose above $105 a barrel amid the escalation and renewed attacks on global oil routes.
At a United Nations Security Council meeting, U.N. Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg told delegates that the international community must act to address “a new and more dangerous phase” in the Yemen war, and Reuters said the Houthis’ gaining control of Mocha gave them “a direct presence on the approaches to one of the world’s most vital straits.”
The stakes also reached regional politics and military planning, with Reuters reporting that Yemeni government forces and their allies are relocating south along the Red Sea coast to Dhubab on the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, across from Perim Island, and that control of Dhubab and the island is key to gaining hold of the strait.