Houthis Strengthen Position Near Bab el-Mandeb Strait After Seizing Yemen’s Mocha Port City

The Iran-backed Houthis have taken control of Yemen’s port city of Mocha.

Mocha is on Yemen’s southwestern coast, close to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The seizure gives the Houthis more control over the area around the strait, which connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden.

Four Yemeni government military sources told Reuters that the Houthis had gained more leverage around the Bab el-Mandeb. The sources also said the group was attacking the Hanish islands.

The Houthi advance along the Red Sea coast was carried out with direct guidance from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, according to Yemeni government, Iranian and regional sources cited by Reuters.

The development came hours after U.S. President Donald Trump said he expected the war to end after the midterm elections.

The Houthis entered the current conflict alongside Iran with an attack on Israel on March 28, according to the report.

The group was largely inactive after that. In July, it declared a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia. It then increased attacks on Saudi Arabia’s south in September.

Two Iranian sources said Iran told the Houthis last week to increase their attacks on Saudi Arabia, a close U.S. ally. Iran also promised more money, weapons and senior military officers, the sources said.

Several senior Revolutionary Guards commanders had travelled to Yemen to oversee and command Houthi attacks against Saudi Arabia, according to a regional diplomat briefed by Tehran.

The visits followed weeks of talks on military strategy.

Iran says the Houthis are an ally and denies directing their military operations. It also denies calling the group a proxy.

An Iranian official said Iran had held several meetings with its allies, including the Houthis. But the official said the decision to take Mocha was made by the Houthis.

The official said the move still helped Iran by increasing oil prices and putting pressure on the U.S and Saudi Arabia.

Five military sources from Yemen’s Saudi-backed and internationally recognised government said Iran’s Revolutionary Guards had directed the new Houthi campaign along the Red Sea coast.

The campaign started with heavy rocket fire along the Tihama, a flat and narrow coastal area, the sources said.

The Yemeni military sources said they reached this conclusion from communications intercepts and accounts from captured Houthi prisoners.

They said they believed the operation was being directed by Abdolreza Shahlaei, a senior Revolutionary Guards commander.

The same Iranian sources said the Revolutionary Guards were still able to move weapons and personnel into and out of Houthi-controlled areas despite an aerial and maritime blockade.

Ahmed Nagi, a Yemen analyst at the International Crisis Group, described the capture of Mocha as a significant step in the war. He said the group had received new weapons either directly from Iran or through smuggling networks.

References: Firstpost, Telegraph India