Yemen’s Houthis reportedly seize Mokha, bringing the Iran-backed group closer to the Bab al-Mandab Strait and a major global trade route.
Yemen’s Houthi fighters have reportedly seized the strategic Red Sea port city of Mokha from Saudi-backed pro-government forces, according to military sources and residents.
The reported takeover puts the Iran-backed group about 75km (46 miles) from the Bab al-Mandab Strait, the southern gateway to a major shipping route linking Asia and Europe.
Mokha residents said Houthi fighters entered the city after heavy clashes with pro-government forces on Wednesday night, forcing many families to flee.
One resident said that the takeover caused panic across the city.
“The takeover came without warning. Panic spread throughout the area, forcing people to flee amid distressing scenes of injured people lying in the streets with no-one there to help them,” he said.
Another resident said Houthi fighters were patrolling the streets on Thursday while government offices and shops remained closed.
“At the moment, we don’t know what Ansar Allah will do,” he said, referring to the group by its formal name. “Everyone is afraid for their safety.”
Many displaced families were reportedly heading east towards Aden, where Yemen’s internationally recognised Presidential Leadership Council and government are based.
“We fled with our children and kept running. We have no bedding, no home, nothing with us. Everything was destroyed within an hour. They didn’t even give us a chance or warn us beforehand,” a displaced woman told reports men.
The Houthis did not immediately confirm that they had captured Mokha.
Their Supreme Political Council said on Thursday that fighting had “ceased in the western coast districts after the expulsion of Saudi enemy mobilisations”, according to Houthi-run Al Masirah TV.
Tarek Salah, leader of the pro-government National Resistance Forces, said he had moved his command centre on the west coast to a “safe location.”
He said his forces had paid “a heavy price in recent days in the face of a Houthi offensive that was planned and supported by Iran.”
A Yemeni military source told reporters that Houthi fighters had also seized Zuqar Island in the Red Sea, about 80km north-west of Mokha, after a rocket barrage and a ground assault involving boats.
The head of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad al-Alimi, called on Arab states and other countries to help protect Yemen’s coastline and restore government control.
The Houthi Supreme Political Council said the group had a right to defend Yemen’s sovereignty and territorial waters while assuring the international community that navigation in the Red Sea remained safe.
The group’s humanitarian operations coordination centre also said its embargo on Saudi ships remained in place.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said Saudi aircraft had carried out 64 strikes over the previous 24 hours across the western provinces of Taiz, Hudaydah, Marib and Jawf.
There was no immediate response from the Saudi military.
The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen said on Wednesday that it would respond to a series of Houthi missile and drone attacks on the south-western Saudi cities of Khamis Mushait, Abha and Jazan.
The Houthis launched dozens of drones and missiles at southern Saudi Arabia on Tuesday. Saudi authorities said 73 civilians were injured and fires broke out at several oil facilities, temporarily disrupting operations.
The Houthis said the attacks were retaliation for Saudi air strikes on areas under their control, including a strike on a prison in Hazm, Jawf province, on Monday. The group said at least 23 civilians were killed.
The Saudi-led coalition has backed Yemen’s internationally recognised government against the Houthis in the country’s long-running civil war.
An informal four-year ceasefire began to unravel in July after the Houthis announced a “maritime embargo” against Saudi Arabia and began attacking Saudi airports, oil facilities and tankers in the Red Sea.
The Houthis said the attacks were retaliation for a Saudi blockade of ports and airports in areas they control, as well as an air strike on Sanaa airport that they blamed on Saudi Arabia.