The Iran-backed Houthi militia captured a strategic Red Sea port city on Thursday, according to two Yemeni officials, in a sweeping ground offensive that could give the group greater control over an important shipping route and further destabilize energy markets.<\/p>\n
The Houthis pushed out forces allied with the Yemeni government, which is backed by Saudi Arabia, to seize the city of Mokha as well as its port, according to a local official in the city and a senior provincial official. Both spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.<\/p>\n
Mokha has been the focus of several days of fierce ground battles between the Houthis and the internationally recognized government.<\/p>\n
The two sides have been at war since 2014, when the Houthis seized Yemen\u2019s capital, Sanaa. Soon after, a Saudi-led military coalition began a bombing campaign to try to restore the government to power, plunging the impoverished nation into a devastating war. A fragile truce, reached in 2022, has unraveled in recent months.<\/p>\n
A video circulating online and verified by The New York Times shows several pickup trucks with groups of armed men standing in their cargo beds driving through a main road in Mokha. A person behind the camera is heard saying, \u201cDeath to America, death to Israel,\u201d part of a Houthi slogan.<\/p>\n
For Saudi Arabia and its Yemeni allies, the capture of Mokha is a major setback, raising questions about their ability to constrain the Houthis.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will put the U.S. and the Saudis and their allies in a much tighter situation than they already are,\u201d said Farea Al-Muslimi, a Yemen specialist at Chatham House, a research institution in London.<\/p>\n
For the Houthis, who are increasingly demanding to be treated as the country\u2019s legitimate government \u2014 and be granted the power and resources<\/a> that would come with that \u2014 taking Mokha is a significant victory. It also puts an ally of Iran one step closer to controlling a key maritime choke point.<\/p>\n Mokha is less than 50 miles from the narrow Bab al-Mandab Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea. The city\u2019s location made it an important maritime hub hundreds of years ago<\/a>, and its port was once the main export point for Yemeni coffee beans.<\/p>\n The Houthis have previously attacked ships in the Red Sea from Yemeni territory further north, but control of Mokha gives the militia a foothold closer to the strait, with implications for global trade and oil markets, analysts say. After the Houthis seized the city on Thursday, the price of Brent crude, the global benchmark, rose to more than $105 a barrel<\/a>, its highest level in months.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is potentially one of the more significant turning points, particularly in recent years, of the Yemen conflict,\u201d said Adam Baron, a Yemen-focused fellow at New America, a research organization in Washington.<\/p>\n The Houthis are expected to try to push farther south to try and take territory next to the strait and potentially an island<\/a> in the waterway. The area is \u201carguably Yemen\u2019s most strategically valuable real estate,\u201d Mr. Baron said. If the Houthis are able to take that territory, it could leave both of the Arabian Peninsula\u2019s major maritime choke points \u2014 Bab al-Mandab and the Strait of Hormuz \u2014 under at least the partial control of Iran and its allies, he added.<\/p>\n The Houthi-affiliated foreign ministry said in a statement on Thursday that \u201cmaritime navigation is safe\u201d and declared that \u201cskirmishes\u201d in western Yemen, where Mokha lies, \u201chave now been brought to an end,\u201d without elaborating.<\/p>\n Mokha was previously held by Lt. Gen. Tareq Saleh, a commander allied with the Yemeni government. His spokesman did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday, nor did the Saudi government.<\/p>\n Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a Houthi political official, said in an interview that the group\u2019s goal was to \u201cfully restore Yemen\u2019s sovereignty and independence\u201d and to confront \u201cthe Saudi enemy,\u201d rather than expand its territory. <\/p>\n \u201cOther factions\u201d in southern Yemen can \u201cretain the areas under their control\u201d until a Yemeni political process is held, Mr. al-Bukhaiti added. He accused General Saleh\u2019s forces of violating Yemen\u2019s truce \u201con Saudi orders,\u201d and said that this was why the Houthis had fought them.<\/p>\n On Thursday, General Saleh said on social media that he had ordered his troops to \u201creorganize their ranks and establish an alternative command center in a secure location,\u201d in consultation with the Saudi-led military coalition.<\/p>\n His forces withdrew on Thursday from at least two islands in the Red Sea \u2014 Hunaish and Zuqar \u2014 according to the senior provincial official and a coast guard official who also spoke on the condition of anonymity. <\/p>\n The fate of Perim island \u2014 locally known as Mayyun \u2014 an island inside the Bab al-Mandab, remains unclear.<\/p>\n Bab al-Mandab has become increasingly important to energy markets since the United States and Israel attacked Iran in February. Saudi Arabia, the world\u2019s biggest oil exporter, typically ships its oil through the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway connecting the Persian Gulf to the world\u2019s oceans. Iran has effectively closed it since the early days of the war with the United States.<\/p>\n Saudi Arabia pivoted to the Red Sea to export most of its oil, but over the past two months, escalating tensions<\/a> with the Houthis have disrupted that route<\/a>.<\/p>\n In July, the militia declared a blockade on Saudi oil tankers passing through the Red Sea, and launched missile and drone attacks at ships and Saudi facilities from their territory in northern Yemen.<\/p>\n The Houthi-affiliated foreign ministry said in a statement on Thursday that the group \u201cwill not pose a threat\u201d and that they are \u201cprepared to be part of the regional security framework, particularly with regard to protecting maritime navigation.\u201d The statement did not refer to fighting in Mokha.<\/p>\n The ministry called on the international community \u201cto compel the Saudi regime to stop targeting Yemen.\u201d<\/p>\n In recent days, Houthi officials have accused Saudi Arabia of launching more than 100 airstrikes in Yemen to support its allies in the country. The Saudi government has not commented on those claims.<\/p>\n The Houthis say they have retaliated with multiple missile and drone attacks inside Saudi Arabia. Earlier this week, Saudi authorities said that recent Houthi attacks had injured more than 70 civilians<\/a> in the kingdom\u2019s southern regions.<\/p>\n Mr. Al-Muslimi said that, going forward, he expected the Yemeni government will try to retake Mokha and \u201cmake a comeback,\u201d aided by Saudi airstrikes.<\/p>\n