Iran-backed Houthi fighters have seized Yemen’s strategic Red Sea port city of Mokha, prompting warnings at the United Nations that the country is entering a more dangerous phase of its long-running conflict.
The takeover was reported by local residents and Yemeni military sources on Thursday, with government forces withdrawing from the city after days of fighting. Mokha had been held by forces aligned with Yemen’s internationally recognised government.
The port is about 80 kilometres from the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the narrow waterway linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden. Around 12 per cent of global goods normally pass through the strait, making the Houthi advance a potential threat to international shipping and energy supplies.
Residents told the Associated Press that Houthi vehicles were visible across Mokha and that shops and markets had closed. Doctors said they had fled the city’s hospital, while other residents were reported to be travelling south towards Aden, which remains under the control of Saudi-backed forces.
Hans Grundberg, the UN special envoy for Yemen, told an emergency meeting of the Security Council that the latest escalation marked the end of more than four years of relative calm following a UN-brokered truce.
“This renewed war should alarm us all,” Mr Grundberg said. He urged the international community to address what he called a “new and more dangerous phase”, warning that its consequences could extend beyond Yemen’s borders.
Yemen’s UN ambassador, Abdullah Al-Saadi, called for the council to condemn the Houthi offensive and impose measures to prevent the supply of arms, components, technology and military expertise to the group.
He said a united Yemeni state with a monopoly on weapons and sovereignty across the country would be a “fundamental guarantee” of security for Yemen, Saudi Arabia and the wider region.
Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the UN, Abdulaziz Alwasil, said Riyadh remained committed to peace but would “take all measures necessary to deter Houthi attacks”. He warned that support for de-escalation must not be exploited by the Houthis to continue threatening the kingdom and the region.
The United States also called for stronger enforcement of UN sanctions, saying those who enabled the Houthi attacks would bear responsibility for their consequences. Reports of Saudi air strikes on Houthi-held areas could not be independently verified.
The capture of Mokha is the Houthis’ most significant territorial gain since the 2022 truce. It brings the group closer to the Bab el-Mandeb and raises fears that renewed fighting could further disrupt one of the world’s key maritime trade routes.
