Houthis seize Yemen’s port of Mokha as Bab al-Mandab gains strategic weight after US-Israeli strikes on Iran

Yemen’s Houthi forces captured the Red Sea port city of Mokha on September 10, 2026, The Hindu International reported, citing The Associated Press. It is the group’s largest territorial gain since the 2022 truce agreement and threatens to reignite a civil war that has lasted for more than a decade.

Mokha is about 80 kilometers from the Bab al-Mandab Strait, the waterway linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and carrying roughly 12% of the world’s oil and merchandise trade. Bab al-Mandab’s importance to global energy routes increased further after US and Israeli military strikes on Iran in February 2026 disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

Hazam al-Assad, a member of the Houthis’ political bureau, and Ahmed Baash, a commander in the Yemeni government-allied National Resistance Forces, separately confirmed the capture to the AP. Mokha residents told the news agency that Houthi fighters were deployed throughout the city and that markets had closed. The city had long been controlled by forces loyal to Yemen’s internationally recognized government.

For Yemeni civilians already subjected to a decade of war, Mokha’s change of hands brings the risk of another round of fighting, with the collapse of the truce likely to be felt first in daily life. In the wider energy landscape, the US-Israeli military action against Iran in February impeded shipping through Hormuz, placing greater pressure on this narrow waterway at the southern end of the Red Sea and on its role in global supply chains.

The Houthis’ next military moves and the international response remain unclear. Whether Mokha’s capture will trigger a full resumption of the civil war and disrupt international shipping has yet to be seen.