‘It’s really bad,’ Fmr. Yemeni official describes losing Mocha to Houthis, calls for more Saudi involvement

Iran-aligned Houthi forces took control of the Yemeni Red Sea port city of Mocha, less than 50 miles from the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, after government forces retreated from the area overnight, despite making advances in Yemen's desert interior. This comes despite Saudi-backed Yemeni forces announcing Wednesday that they had made significant gains in the north and central desert areas and appeared to have broken through Houthi lines.

In reality, the Houthis had simply repositioned, giving up open desert territory in order to seize the more strategically valuable western coastline. By Thursday morning, the group had taken Mocha after government forces retreated en masse, effectively swapping territory with Saudi-backed forces in a trade that leaves the Houthis with a more direct ability to threaten shipping in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and increase pressure on Saudi Arabia.

A former Yemeni military official told i24NEWS that the government's boasting about desert gains was "actually a cover for their losses on the coastline." "It's really bad," he said, adding that the only way to turn the tide is for Saudi Arabia to get more involved and activate the Mecca Accord, bringing Turkey and Pakistan into the fight.

The fighting comes as a resumption of full-scale war between the Houthis and Saudi-backed forces edges closer toward reality, threatening to unravel a fragile UN-brokered truce in place since 2022.

The strait, known as the "Gate of Tears," is a critical route for crude oil and fuel shipments from the Gulf to the Mediterranean and Asia. Houthi control could isolate Gulf producers like Saudi Arabia from their main shipping routes, compounding the impact of Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The Houthis said Wednesday that Saudi strikes hit the provinces of Jawaf, Marib, Saada, Taiz, and al-Hodeidah, though Saudi Arabia did not confirm the strikes.

Saudi civil defense authorities issued an all-clear Thursday after a fourth emergency alert in 24 hours in Khamis Mushait, where the Saudi-led coalition said Houthi attacks wounded at least 73 people across four southern cities on Tuesday, one of the largest such attacks since the US-Israeli war on Iran began in February.