Yemen’s Houthis seize strategic Red Sea city of Mocha
Houthis deliver 'significant blow' to the Yemeni government, expand control over Bab al-Mandeb, analysts say.
Yemen’s Houthis have seized the crucial Red Sea city of Mocha, expanding control over the strategic Bab al-Mandeb strait, one of the world’s most important trade routes.
The Iran-backed group took over Mocha on Thursday while internationally recognised government forces withdrew, sources told Al Jazeera’s Yemen correspondent, Yousef Mawry. Three Yemeni government sources also told the Reuters news agency that the city had been taken.
“The Yemeni government tried to put up a fight; they called reinforcements … but the overwhelming military pressure of the Ansar Allah Houthis eventually [led to them taking] over the port and the city itself,” Mawry said, adding that the strategic district of Hais was also seized.
Badi said the relationship between Iran and the Houthis was “no longer a secret”, describing the group as one of Iran’s key regional arms alongside Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) in Iraq.