From TIME · Miranda Jeyaretnam · · 1m 40s
The Houthis Take Mokha, and a Second Front Opens
A port town 80km from Bab el-Mandeb just changed hands, and with it, the leverage over 12% of world trade.
In brief
A port town 80km from Bab el-Mandeb just changed hands, and with it, the leverage over 12% of world trade. Mokha is not about Yemen alone. It hands Iran a second maritime chokepoint to squeeze, right as the Strait of Hormuz is already closed. Originally reported by TIME.
Mokha falls
Iran-aligned Houthi rebels swept south along the Red Sea coast and took the port city of Mokha from Saudi-backed government forces on Thursday, then reached the Hanish archipelago.
The biggest gain since 2022
This is the most territory the Houthis have seized since the cease-fire that paused major fighting with Yemen's government four years ago.
The truce is over
Government forces fell back toward Dhubab. Al-Masirah TV reported 40 Saudi-backed airstrikes across Taiz, Jawf, Hodeida and Marib, and residents fear full civil war returning.
“This renewed war should alarm us all.”
Eighty kilometres from the strait
Mokha sits just north of Bab el-Mandeb, the waterway carrying roughly 12% of global trade. Holding the port makes threatening that traffic far easier.
Tehran's fingerprints
The IRGC reportedly supplied weapons and direct guidance, and told the Houthis last week to escalate against Saudi Arabia. Iran's line in public: the Houthis are "not a proxy."
“not a proxy”
Saudi oil is already bleeding
Since the July 20 blockade, Saudi crude exports hit a 13-year low, production fell 23% from July to August, and Bab el-Mandeb traffic dropped about 24% in a week.
Two chokepoints to guard
With Hormuz effectively shut, Washington may have to defend a second strait and prop up Riyadh, just as Trump promises the war ends right after November's midterms.
What matters most
Mokha is not about Yemen alone. It hands Iran a second maritime chokepoint to squeeze, right as the Strait of Hormuz is already closed.
