Houthis Seize Mocha as Fighting Escalates Along Red Sea Coast

Yemen’s Houthis have seized the crucial Red Sea city of al-Makha (Mocha) and are advancing toward the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, media reports claimed on Thursday.

According to Reuters, the Houthis pushed Saudi-backed government forces out of Mocha after several days of fierce fighting, capturing both the city and its port. Witnesses told AFP that they saw Houthi fighters entering on Thursday chanting “death to America, death to Israel.”

The Houthis have also reportedly attacked the strategic Hanish islands, pushing government forces further south. An unnamed military source claimed the group seized Zuqar Island after rocket attacks and an amphibious assault. Control of the area would strengthen the Houthis’ position on Yemen’s side of Bab al-Mandeb, potentially cutting government supply routes and depriving Saudi-backed forces of a key logistics hub, sources said.

Yemen’s internationally recognized government has not confirmed Mocha’s capture. However, Lt. Gen. Tareq Saleh, whose forces controlled the city, said earlier Thursday he had ordered them to “reorganize their ranks and establish an alternative command center in a secure location.”

The reported advance marks a sharp escalation after roughly four years of relative calm following a UN-brokered truce in 2022. The Houthis had previously fought Yemen’s internationally recognized government since seizing Sanaa in 2014, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene.

Tensions flared again in July after, according to Yemen’s internationally recognized government, its forces struck Sanaa airport to prevent an Iranian aircraft carrying a Houthi delegation from landing. The Houthis blamed Saudi Arabia, declared the de-escalation phase over and subsequently announced a naval blockade of the kingdom. By mid-August, the group was launching coordinated missile and drone strikes on camps belonging to Yemen’s Saudi-backed government, which in turn launched counteroffensives across several provinces.

The fighting sharply escalated earlier this week. On Tuesday, the Houthis targeted energy and other infrastructure in Saudi Arabia’s south, including facilities belonging to Saudi Aramco, the country’s largest oil producer. The Houthis called the operation retaliation for Saudi strikes in Yemen, claiming Riyadh had carried out 121 airstrikes over the previous three days. Saudi aircraft carried out another 40 strikes across four Yemeni provinces on Thursday, according to the Houthi-run Saba news agency.

What is the significance of the Houthis’ advance?

The battle for Yemen’s Red Sea coast has implications far beyond the country. Bab al-Mandeb links the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean and carries roughly 10% of global seaborne trade. Its importance to energy markets has surged since the US-Israeli war on Iran erupted on February 28 and the Strait of Hormuz came under a de facto blockade, forcing Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s largest oil exporters, to rely more heavily on Red Sea exports.

Saudi Aramco has increasingly diverted crude through its cross-country pipeline to the Red Sea port of Yanbu. Loadings have averaged more than 4 million barrels per day since June, more than four times last year’s level. Saudi crude shipments through Bab al-Mandeb between March and mid-July were eight times higher than in the same period of 2025, making disruption to the strait a growing threat to the kingdom’s oil exports.

The Houthis have disrupted the waterway before, repeatedly attacking Red Sea shipping in 2023 in what they said was support for Palestinians during Israel’s war in Gaza.

Despite the renewed hostilities, Riyadh says diplomacy remains possible. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud earlier this week accused the Houthis of prioritizing “their narrow interests” over the interests of Yemen, but insisted that “the road to diplomacy is not closed.”