Yemen’s Houthis say ‘no threat’ to Red Sea navigation after taking key port city
SANAA/UNITED NATIONS – Yemen’s Houthi group said Thursday that international shipping through the Red Sea and the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait remained safe, seeking to ease concerns after its forces seized the strategic Red Sea port city of Mocha on Yemen’s western coast.
Mohammed Abdul-Salam, the group’s spokesperson, said in a statement posted on social media platform X that freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab remained “safe and regular”, insisting that the group’s operations posed “no threat” to international shipping.
Abdul-Salam said the group’s ongoing military operations had specific targets and were “defensive” in nature, without providing further details.
Houthi forces seized Mocha in southwestern Taiz province and the strategic Hanish Islands in the Red Sea earlier Thursday, forcing government forces to retreat southward and pushing the front line closer to the Bab al-Mandab Strait.
He didn’t mention the group’s maritime ban on Saudi shipping, which was announced on July 20. The Houthis have claimed a series of attacks on Saudi tankers since launching the naval blockade.
The Bab al-Mandab Strait, which connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden, is a major route for international trade and energy shipments. Mocha lies about 70 km north of the strait’s narrowest point.
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The government forces on Thursday designated a swath of territory along the western coast as a “kill zone”, saying they would use “all types of weapons and firepower” against Houthi troops advancing into the designated zone.
A military official told Xinhua that government forces withdrawing from Mocha had regrouped near Bab al-Mandab and were preparing to launch a counteroffensive “in the upcoming hours” to retake territory seized by the Houthis.
The widening fighting in Yemen marks the most serious escalation since a UN-brokered truce in 2022 largely halted major hostilities.
Yemen’s conflict began in late 2014 when the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, and expanded across much of the country’s north, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene in 2015 in support of the internationally recognized Yemeni government.
‘Escalation risks wider regional conflict, global repercussions’
Following the group’s offensive, UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg warned the renewed conflict in Yemen risks dragging the country into wider and unresolved regional confrontation with global repercussions.
“As of right now, they have gained control of Mocha, giving them a direct presence on the approaches to one of the world’s most vital straits, although fighting is ongoing and the situation remains fluid,” he said via a video link. “This development is raising serious concerns within the international community about the threat to freedom of navigation.”
The renewed conflict effectively marks the end of the relative calm that Yemen has experienced for over four years since the UN-brokered truce. It not only threatens to plunge Yemen into a prolonged and expanding conflict, but also risks dragging the country into the wider and unresolved regional confrontation, with global repercussions, Grundberg said.
The developments in Mocha follow weeks of escalation. In early September, the Houthis launched extensive attacks in Taiz and Hodeidah, setting off increasingly intense confrontations with government forces. Fighting has since spread to Marib, al-Jawf, and al-Bayda governorates. The Houthis have also conducted attacks on civilian and energy infrastructure in Saudi Arabia, he said.
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Grundberg called on the Houthis to cease attacks inside Yemen and across the border into Saudi Arabia, and to cease attacks and threats against commercial vessels.