The city fell amid heavy fighting with the Saudi-backed coalition, according to Yemeni authorities. Mocha sits on Yemen's western coast, less than 80 kilometers from the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
More than 500 people have been killed over the past week, most of them military personnel and fighters from armed formations, according to AFP. Another 18,500 people have been forced to leave their homes.
The Houthi advance has been accompanied by strikes on Saudi territory. According to the Saudi-led coalition, the rebels attacked the cities of Abha, Khamis Mushait and Jizan with ballistic missiles and drones. One of the latest attacks in the south of the kingdom injured 73 civilians.
Riyadh has responded with massive airstrikes. The Houthis claim Saudi aircraft carried out about 40 strikes in recent hours on the provinces of Taiz, Hodeidah, al-Jawf and Marib. Earlier this week, the Houthis accused Saudi Arabia of striking a prison; according to Yemen's Health Ministry, 32 people were killed and many prisoners were left under the rubble.
The current escalation threatens to finally destroy the fragile truce that has held back Yemen's civil war since 2022. The conflict began in 2014 after the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, and in March 2015 a Saudi-led coalition intervened. Today the Houthis remain the country's largest military force and control territory home to an estimated 60-65% of Yemen's population, according to Reuters.
The new round of fighting carries global significance. After Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, Saudi Arabia redirected a significant share of its oil exports through the Red Sea. The Houthi advance toward Bab el-Mandeb now threatens that route as well.
Oil prices exceeded $100 a barrel on Wednesday. According to Crimea.Realities, Brent crude was trading at around $102 at noon Kyiv time, with peak values on the morning of September 10 reaching $102.40 a barrel. Reuters notes that oil prices continue to rise, moving away from the psychological threshold of $100, as traders brace for more serious supply disruptions amid attacks on tankers in the Persian Gulf.
The MSCI emerging markets equity index was down 0.28% by 14:14 Moscow time. Seoul's stock index closed 0.25% lower, Taiwan's main stock index fell 0.51%, the Shanghai Composite dropped 0.43% and the CSI300 lost 0.53%. Poland's central bank left its borrowing rate at 3.75%, and Turkey's central bank held its rate at 37.0%.
The Bab el-Mandeb Strait, at the southern end of the Red Sea, connects it to the Gulf of Aden and onward to the Indian Ocean. It is about 100 kilometers long and roughly 30 kilometers wide at its narrowest point, separating Yemen from Djibouti and Eritrea on the Horn of Africa. In 2024, when the Houthis began attacking ships in the Red Sea amid the war in Gaza, traffic through the Suez Canal fell sharply and has not recovered. According to IMF PortWatch, 26,895 vessels passed through the canal in 2023 - an average of 73.7 per day - compared with 14,498 in 2024 and 14,070 in 2025.
The battle for Yemen's western coast is becoming part of a broader struggle for control of the Middle East's oil routes. If the Houthis manage to entrench themselves directly at the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, one of the region's two key maritime gateways to the global energy market will be at risk.