Houthi forces grabbed control of the Yemeni port city of Mocha on Thursday, in a major offensive that comes amid escalated fighting between the Iran-aligned movement and Yemen’s Saudi-backed government. Hundreds of women and children left Mocha, seeking shelter in the Saudi-backed government-controlled provinces of Lahij and Aden, as the growing violence also threatened to exacerbate an already devastating humanitarian crisis across the Taiz and al-Hodeidah provinces, where more than 20,000 people have been displaced due to clashes over the past two weeks. Al Jazeera’s Yemeni affairs editor, Ahmed al-Shalafi, highlighted the immediate civilian toll of the military shift.
The fall of Mocha is the culmination of a massive Houthi offensive that exposed vulnerabilities within government-aligned defences. According to al-Shalafi, the Houthis applied pressure from three distinct axes starting on September 3: western Taiz, southern Hodeidah, and Mocha city itself. The combat was intense on the outskirts of Mocha.
A key factor that helped the Houthis take control of the city was the withdrawal of the National Resistance Forces from the fighting, said al-Shalafi and Al Jazeera correspondent Maha Ali, who was reporting from Taiz. The National Resistance, led by Tareq Saleh — nephew of Yemen’s former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was killed by the Houthis after initially allying with them — has been a central part of the Saudi-backed alliance, and the internationally recognised government it leads. The Houthis took control of Mocha “following the withdrawal of the National Resistance Forces from them at dawn today and their movement towards Mocha”, al-Shalafi said.
He added that it is unclear whether the National Resistance Forces withdrew “to arrange their ranks, or for a military reason, or due to their inability to withstand the intense military formations”. According to Al Jazeera’s Maha Ali, Saleh ordered forces to execute “a tactical withdrawal and repositioning in exchange for the Houthis’ advance in the al-Waziyah and Mawza fronts”, and instructed them to establish an alternative command centre. The conflict is rapidly spilling over into maritime and distant terrestrial domains. quoted four unnamed sources as telling it that the Houthis “were launching attacks on the strategic Red Sea islands of Hanish”.
Simultaneously, Ali reported that “the military media of the National Resistance announced that the air aviation [of pro-government forces] targeted Houthi positions in Al-Tuhayta, Al-Salif, and Kamaran Island in Hodeidah governorate, while the Houthis launched two ballistic missiles towards the strategic Zuqar Island”. Clashes also intensified inland. In Marib, “warplanes targeted Houthi reinforcements coming from Sanaa in Fardhat Nihm and others heading to north and south of Marib”, Ali reported.
Mocha’s geography makes its capture a global concern. The city sits approximately 75km (47 miles) north of the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. Known as the Gate of Tears, this narrow passage is a critical artery for crude oil and fuel travelling from the Gulf to the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal, as well as for Asian commodities and Russian oil.
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