{"id":614620,"date":"2026-09-13T08:12:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-13T08:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/614620\/"},"modified":"2026-09-13T08:12:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-13T08:12:09","slug":"yemens-mocha-left-vulnerable-to-houthi-attack-by-us-saudi-inaction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/614620\/","title":{"rendered":"Yemen’s Mocha left vulnerable to Houthi attack by US-Saudi inaction"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yemeni battalions stationed in the port city of Mocha were left largely unprepared to fend off a takeover by the Iran-backed Houthis<\/a> on Thursday, with much of the force\u2019s roster filled with \u201cghost names\u201d of soldiers that did not actually exist, according to a Saturday CNN report.<\/p>\n

A Western source with knowledge of Yemeni anti-Houthi operations<\/a> told CNN that the \u201cghost names\u201d received salaries, making the army seem much stronger than it was on paper. In actuality, the army was only around 20% of what it appeared to be, according to the source.<\/p>\n

Blame for the apparent lack of military resistance to the Houthi takeover has been split between Yemeni leaders, the United States, and Saudi Arabia, with multiple sources telling CNN that different parties were responsible for the failure.<\/p>\n

‘A Saudi-American f*** of epic proportions’<\/p>\n

One regional CNN source described the fall of Mocha as \u201ca Saudi-American f*** up of epic proportions\u201d caused by delayed decision-making by Washington<\/a> and Riyadh.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe failure this time is not with the Yemenis,\u201d the source told CNN on Friday. \u201cThere was not one airstrike throughout the day yesterday (by Saudi support forces), although there were minute-by-minute updates.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AA boy holds up a toy weapon as he joins Houthi supporters during an anti-Saudi rally amid an escalation with the kingdom, in Sanaa, Yemen, July 31, 2026. (credit: REUTERS\/KHALED ABDULLAH)<\/p>\n

Another source stated that the Saudi military had been put on high alert due to the possibility of a Houthi advance weeks ago, but failed to prepare for the attack. Key air command personnel for directing combat aircraft allegedly were not deployed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Saudis threw the Yemenis under the bus,\u201d the source told CNN.<\/p>\n

According to the report, a senior Yemeni official said he had warned US Central Command (CENTCOM) repeatedly \u201cthat the situation was becoming critical.\u201d<\/p>\n

The source told CNN that CENTCOM assured him that the US was \u201cwatching the situation closely and that Saudi air support was coming,\u201d but the air support did not show up.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, the day of the Houthi attack, CENTCOM chief Adm. Brad Cooper was in Saudi Arabia for coordination meetings, two sources told CNN.<\/p>\n

While CENTCOM did not confirm that the visit occurred, CNN cited a US official as saying that in recent weeks American military personnel have been working with a newly established joint forces command that was formed after it was suspected that Iran was intensifying efforts to support Houthi attacks.<\/p>\n

Some say divisions between Yemen’s leaders are to blame for fall of Mocha<\/p>\n

DC-based Mohammed al-Basha, who has served as an advisor to the US government on the Arabian Peninsula, argued to CNN that internal divisions among Yemen\u2019s leadership were to blame for the failure to defend Mocha.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis goes back to a deeper problem in the anti-Houthi coalition,\u201d Basha told CNN. \u201cThere is no political cohesion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no united command and control in Yemen,\u201d he continued. \u201cI think everybody was aware of the Houthis\u2019 push towards the west coast. The writings on the wall were very clear.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked what may come next, Basha predicted that the Houthis would continue pushing eastwards, further into Yemen, telling CNN that \u201cWe are seeing today, via satellite and via OSINT (open-source intelligence) photography\u2026 that the Houthis are mobilizing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Yemeni battalions stationed in the port city of Mocha were left largely unprepared to fend off a takeover…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":614621,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[47994,42,2895,8954,87,43,78,40,38,41,39,1032,2893],"class_list":["post-614620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-centcom","tag-headlines","tag-houthi","tag-houthis","tag-iran","tag-news","tag-saudi-arabia","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-united-states","tag-yemen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=614620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614620\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/614621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=614620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=614620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=614620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}