Houthis seize Yemen’s Red Sea coastline after capturing Mocha

Yemen’s Houthis have captured the entire Red Sea coastline of the country after taking control of the strategic port city of Mocha and advancing southwards in an 18-hour offensive, according to reports.

Government forces had already withdrawn from Mocha, allowing Houthi fighters to move further south with little resistance, Al Jazeera reported. They subsequently captured Dhubab and Murad, the final coastal town held by the internationally recognised government.

Houthi naval forces also advanced offshore, seizing Mayyun Island in the Bab al-Mandeb strait and entering Zuqar Island, where fighting was reported to be continuing.

The developments have expanded the group’s control around Bab al-Mandeb, a narrow maritime passage connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and one of the world’s most important trade routes.

Saudi military forces carried out two air strikes on Mocha airport following the advance, the Houthi-affiliated Al-Masirah television channel reported. There was no immediate information about casualties or damage.

Mohamad Elmasry, a professor in the Media Studies programme at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, said the Houthis’ ability to capture and retain Mocha demonstrated how their military strength had increased in recent years.

“I would say that this is a fighting force that is probably more advanced than the force that the Saudis were fighting against about a decade ago,” Elmasry told Al Jazeera.

The group had developed strong ground forces and obtained Iranian weapons, air-defence systems and a substantial arsenal of missiles and drones, he said.

“I think [the advance] suggests that the Houthis have significant capabilities, and if anything, it’s the government forces that are retreating,” Elmasry added.

He said the Houthis appeared to have used the region’s focus on the US-Israel war with Iran to launch their coastal offensive.

Elmasry said that although the group received considerable backing from Tehran, it retained its own objectives within Yemen’s long-running civil war.

“They are not puppets of the Iranian government by any stretch. They have their own national cause, their own civil war independent of whatever happens in Iran,” he said.

The capture of Mocha and the remaining coastal areas gives the Houthis a stronger position along the shipping corridor. It could also heighten concerns over the safety of commercial vessels navigating the Bab al-Mandeb strait and the southern Red Sea.