Yemeni Government Says Forces Retake Red Sea Port of Mocha From Houthis

Yemen's internationally recognised government says its forces have taken control of the Red Sea port city of Mocha, west of Taiz province, extending a fast-moving offensive against the Iran-aligned Houthis along the country's southwestern coast.

The claim was carried on Monday by the government-run Saba news agency, which quoted a military source, and reported by Al Jazeera on its live coverage of the Iran war. Al Jazeera said earlier that it could not independently verify battlefield reports from the front. The Houthis did not immediately comment on Mocha.

What the government says happened

According to the military source quoted by Saba, the Nation's Shield Forces, the Giants Brigades and the Tihama Resistance, backed by the Popular Resistance, took the city with air support after what the agency described as "fierce fighting" at several positions around it.

The source said Houthi fighters were killed and wounded, several were captured and others fled. No casualty or prisoner figures were given. Al Jazeera has reported that the Houthis seized Mocha in mid-September, when they swept across parts of western Yemen and took key islands in the Bab al-Mandeb strait.

The announcement follows the government's claim earlier on Monday that it had reclaimed the Dhubab district near Bab al-Mandeb and launched a "strategic offensive" on the Houthi-held capital, Sanaa.

Why Mocha and Bab al-Mandeb matter

The coastline around Mocha overlooks one of the world's busiest shipping lanes. With Iran still blocking normal traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, Gulf producers have leaned on Red Sea routes to move oil, which makes control of the southern entrance to the Red Sea a pressing concern for markets.

Yemen's Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani told Reuters on Monday that government forces had secured effective control of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, although another government source said fighting was continuing at a military base near the waterway.

Saudi-led coalition spokesman Major General Turki al-Maliki said 100 fighter jets were supporting the Yemeni forces and that the coalition had secured "air protection" of the strait, according to Al Jazeera.

A contested front

The picture on the ground remains mixed. Reuters, citing five government military sources, reported that the Houthis had made important advances near Taiz, gaining sections of a mountain road and leaving government forces there besieged. One other government source denied the road had been cut.

A Houthi-run news agency also claimed the group had driven government forces from the al-Mawasit district of Taiz province.

Rashad al-Alimi, chairman of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council, announced the wider operation on Sunday, vowing to fight "until the country is liberated from the grip of the terrorist militia", Reuters reported.