ADEN, Yemen — The Iran-backed Houthi rebel group on Thursday took over Yemen’s port city of Mokha, an area vital to controlling shipping through the Red Sea, Houthi and Yemeni officials said. The takeover gives Iran another potential point of leverage in its war with the U.S., analysts said, if the Houthis use their presence in Mokha to ramp up threats or attacks on shipping in the Red Sea. Mokha is about 80 kilometres (50 miles) from the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a waterway that connects the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden and through which about 12 per cent of the world’s goods are typically shipped. The Bab el-Mandeb’s importance to global oil supplies has grown since shipping through the nearby Strait of Hormuz has been impeded by Iran during its war with the United States and Israel. The Houthis kept mostly to the sidelines when the Iran war began, but over the summer the rebels increased attacks against Yemen’s internationally recognized government and declared a blockade on Saudi Arabia, which supports it. While the Houthis have their own reasons for fighting the Saudis, the conflict also serves Iran’s interests by ramping up pressure on the American-allied oil producer as Tehran seeks leverage against the U.S. The Houthis’ takeover of Mokha was confirmed to The Associated Press by Ahmed Baash, a commander with the National Resistance Forces allied with Yemen’s government, and Hazam al-Assad, a member of the Houthis’ political bureau. The Houthis’ advance threatens a return to full-scale civil war Mokha represents the Houthis’ biggest territorial gain since a truce was signed in 2022 to end a civil war that began more than a decade ago. A return to full-scale civil war would be devastating for the Yemeni people and potentially for world energy supplies. The Houthis have been at war with Yemen’s government since 2014, when the rebels swept down from their mountainous heartland and seized much of northern and central Yemen. Saudi Arabia entered the war the following year on behalf of the government. Residents of Mokha told AP that Houthi forces could be seen throughout the city Thursday and that markets were shuttered. Mokha was long held by forces aligned with Yemen’s internationally recognized government. Mokha resident Amin al-Mohammdi said roads from the west coast leading to Mokha were closed and shops were shuttered. Resident Mohamed Salem said he saw vehicles belonging to Houthi forces in the streets. Residents of Mokha flee to the south Three doctors told the AP they fled a Mokha hospital after it was seized by the Houthis. The doctors spoke on condition of anonymity, citing fears for their safety. They said other residents were fleeing south, toward the city of Aden, which is controlled by the Saudi-backed forces. The Houthis recently made advances in the western province of Taiz, where Mokha is located, according to Ahmed al-Mawazi, a trooper with the Yemeni armed forces, and Abdel Kader al-Sharabi, a member of the Saudi-backed forces supporting the Yemeni government. Both said the rebels had seized control of the al-Shaqira area in Taiz, an important supply route for Yemeni government forces in south Hodeida. The mountainous terrain around Taiz gives the Houthis a strategic area overlooking Yemen’s west coast, said Baraa Shiban, an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London. The Houthis could potentially make shipping in the Red Sea more hazardous by laying mines in the water, similar to what Iran’s Revolutionary Guard did in the Strait of Hormuz, Shiban said. The Houthis’ advance on Mokha potentially gives Iran leverage in its negotiations with the U.S., said Farea al-Muslimi, a research fellow at Chatham House specializing in Yemen and the Gulf. Shipping through the Bab al Mandeb has fallen by about 60 per cent since the Houthis began attacking ships there in late 2023, prompting many companies to abandon the route. It briefly increased this year as Saudi Arabia sought alternatives to Hormuz; Saudi oil shipments were redirected via pipeline to the Red Sea port at Yanbu, but “renewed Houthi threats have curtailed” that activity, according to Lloyd’s List Intelligence. Yemen seeks international help to thwart the Houthis In a letter to the United Nations Security Council, Yemen’s Foreign Minister Afrah al-Zouba said the Houthis’ territorial gains could lead to instability across the country and region, and she called for international action to thwart the rebel group. That sentiment was echoed by the special envoy for Yemen at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Thursday. “This renewed war should alarm us all. It effectively marks the end of the relative calm that Yemen has experienced for over four years since the UN-brokered truce,” said the envoy, Hans Grundberg. He called on the international community to address this “new and more dangerous phase -- one whose consequences, if left unchecked, will not stay within Yemen’s borders.” Saudi UN Ambassador Abdulaziz Alwasil said that the kingdom remains supportive of peace in Yemen but that it would “take all measures necessary to deter Houthi attacks.” Alwasil warned that “the kingdom’s commitment to de-escalation and to supporting a political solution must not be allowed to become an opportunity that this militia exploits to continue its attacks and to threaten the security of the kingdom and the region.” At the UN meeting, U.S. Minister Counselor Jenifer Neidhart warned that those who enable the escalation of Houthi attacks “bear responsibility for its consequences.” Neidhart called for stronger implementation of UN sanctions against the militants to cut off “the resources that sustain their acts of terrorism.” Yemeni government forces have launched airstrikes targeting Houthi reinforcements west of Taiz, several residents of Mokha said, and the Yemeni government military has urged civilians to avoid roads between Taiz and Mokha. Houthi-controlled Al-Masirah TV claimed that Saudi-backed forces launched 40 airstrikes in recent hours in Taiz, Jawf, Hodeida and Marib provinces. The AP couldn’t independently verify the claim. There was no immediate comment from the government forces. Khaled reported from Cairo. AP journalist David McHugh in Frankfurt, Germany, and Edith Lederer at the United Nations, contributed. Ahmed Al-haj And Fatma Khaled, The Associated Press
