rizky-amelia
Yemen’s Houthi movement has captured the strategic Red Sea port city of Mokha along the nation's western coastline, according to eyewitnesses and military sources. The sudden advance marks a critical escalation in the protracted confrontation between the Iran-aligned militia and Yemen's Saudi-backed government, significantly altering the balance of territorial control along vital coastal corridors.
Securing Mokha represents a major tactical gain for the Houthis, placing them in direct proximity to the Bab al-Mandab Strait at the southern entrance of the Red Sea. Although central Houthi leadership withheld comprehensive official statements immediately following the initial operation, field reports and military confirmations established that rebel forces had successfully penetrated and taken control of the municipality.
Confronted by multi-pronged rebel assaults, government-aligned troops and personnel from the National Resistance Forces abandoned their defensive lines within the city. Military officials confirmed that withdrawing units transferred heavy armaments, equipment, and frontline forces to safe positions situated south of Mokha as part of an urgent tactical reorganization.
Commander Tareq Saleh, the leader of the National Resistance Forces and nephew of the late former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, confirmed the retreat of his personnel. Saleh stated that he had ordered fighters to withdraw to secure zones south of the urban center after Houthi forces launched simultaneous assaults across several axes, acknowledging that coastal defense troops had suffered substantial losses and paid a heavy price during the fighting.
Following the withdrawal, Saleh revealed that operational instructions were issued to establish an alternative command center in a secure location outside the contested zone. This new operational hub is being developed in direct coordination with the Saudi-led coalition backing the Yemeni government, aimed at restructuring displaced units and consolidating defensive lines against further insurgent advances.
In the immediate aftermath of the city's fall, video footage emerged across social media networks and Houthi-affiliated media channels depicting rebel fighters patrolling various neighborhoods throughout Mokha. While the visual material could not be independently authenticated, local witnesses reported that scores of civilian residents had begun fleeing the city out of fear of renewed violence and potential retaliatory strikes.
State-run media under Houthi administration in Sanaa reported that opposing forces had been entirely expelled from the western coast. The Houthi-controlled Saba news agency stated that hostile groups had been routed, while rebel elements consolidated their hold over critical regional transport junctions and arterial supply routes across the coastal district.
Beyond the seizure of the urban center, sources within the Houthi militia reported that their fighters had advanced toward maritime areas in the direct vicinity of the Bab al-Mandab Strait. Rebel detachments reportedly reached offshore locations, including the nearby islands of Hanish and Zukar, thereby extending their physical reach across key maritime approaches.
Following the conclusion of active combat in the city, Mahdi al-Mashat, the chairman of the Houthi Supreme Political Council, announced that stability had been restored to Mokha. Al-Mashat publicly extended an offer of amnesty to opposing combatants who laid down their weapons, urging what he characterized as misguided fighters to surrender and accept the emerging territorial reality.
The ground offensive coincided with intensified aerial bombardment, with Houthi authorities accusing the Saudi-led coalition of executing more than 60 airstrikes across multiple provinces within a 24-hour timeframe. These intense aerial engagements underscore the broad military escalation that is once again engulfing the region.
The fall of Mokha represents a major shift in a civil war that has pitted the Houthi movement against the Saudi-backed government for over a decade. A United Nations-brokered truce established in 2022 had largely frozen active frontlines and halted major nationwide offensives, yet it left the underlying conflict unresolved and without a comprehensive peace agreement.
Hostilities have now aggressively reignited on the ground, fueled in part by the wider regional confrontation involving Iran. The deterioration of the longstanding stalemate has shattered the relative calm that had persisted along the western coast since the 2022 cessation of large-scale military campaigns.
Mokha's geographic position immediately north of the Bab al-Mandab Strait makes it one of the most commercially critical checkpoints for international energy commerce. Alongside the Strait of Hormuz, the Bab al-Mandab passageway serves as an indispensable conduit for international crude oil and liquefied natural gas shipments connecting global markets.
With commercial shipping increasingly utilizing the Bab al-Mandab route as an alternative passage to mitigate disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz amid the broader regional war, the capture of Mokha carries far-reaching international consequences. Operating from their newly established positions in the port city, Houthi forces are now strategically situated to monitor, target, and disrupt maritime transit through the Red Sea far more systematically than before.
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