Iran-aligned Houthi militants seized control of Yemen’s port city of Mocha on Thursday, military sources said, posing a further threat to global energy supplies hours after US President Donald Trump said he expected the war to end after midterm elections.
Four Yemeni government military sources said the Houthis had gained further leverage over the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the southern outlet of the Red Sea and one of the world’s most important shipping routes, and were launching attacks on the strategic islands of Hanish.
The Houthis entered the current war alongside Iran with an attack on Israel on March 28, but largely stayed quiet before declaring a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia in July and stepping up attacks on the south of the kingdom in September.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, has relied on the Red Sea shipping route since the Iran conflict effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of global oil used to flow.
Riyadh and Tehran, despite a China-brokered thawing of relations, have long been regional rivals and deeply distrust one another.
Tensions in the region were high on Thursday, with Saudi civil defence authorities issuing emergency alerts in the southwestern city of Khamis Mushait for the fourth time in 24 hours, as the Houthis attacked.