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Houthi forces take the Red Sea port of Mocha
September 10, 2026
Houthi forces hold Mocha on Yemen's Red Sea coast after government troops pulled back southward, widening rebel gains across Taiz province.
Yemen's Houthi rebels, long in a complex alliance with Iran, are fighting the UN-recognised Yemeni government and Saudi Arabia for the Red Sea coast and the Bab al-Mandab strait, a fight that resumed after the 2022 ceasefire broke down.
Key facts
- The blockade was declared on 20 July, the Guardian reports; five days later Saudi Arabia's Jazan refinery was hit, and a tanker near Yanbu was struck on 24 August.
- A figure circulated by a source linked to the Houthis put the territory taken by rebel fighters above 6,000 sq km, or roughly 2,320 sq miles, the Guardian reports.
- The assessment, as carried by the Guardian, was: “In terms of military capability, both sides are more equal compared to the immediate period prior to the 2022 ceasefire when the Houthis had the upper hand.”
- Speaking on Wednesday, Donald Trump conceded that in his view the conflict with Iran would still be running when Americans vote in the early-November midterms, the Guardian reports.
- Combat has not let up, the Guardian reports: the Houthis say they now hold Mocha in Taiz province along with Hays, further inland, and the Khalid ibn al-Walid camp, which is the biggest military installation anywhere in the area.
Reuters carries the port's fall and the risk it poses to energy shipping through the Red Sea. The Guardian sets out the fullest account: rebel forces now claim Mocha in Taiz province, the inland city of Hays, and the region's biggest army base, named for Khalid ibn al-Walid. Maj Gen Tareq Saleh, who commands government troops, says he pulled his men back south of the town to regroup somewhere safer. The Financial Times, wsj.com, France 24 and the South China Morning Post carry both of those points, and the New York Times carries the withdrawal.
Where the outlets differ is emphasis, not fact. The Financial Times treats the loss as a reverse for Saudi Arabia. wsj.com tracks the rebels pressing toward the Bab al-Mandeb. The New York Times widens the frame to ask why the country has slid back toward war. None of those readings contradicts another, and no account puts up a rival figure. The Guardian reports a Houthi-linked estimate that rebel forces have taken more than 2,320 sq miles of ground, which Reuters, the Financial Times, wsj.com, France 24 and the South China Morning Post also carry.
The wider sequence is corroborated too. The Guardian dates the blockade announcement to 20 July, a strike on the Jazan refinery to 25 July, and an attack on a tanker near Yanbu to 24 August, with the Financial Times and France 24 reporting the same run of dates. The Royal United Services Institute, a defence and security thinktank in London, describes a conflict slipping beyond control, and says the UN-recognised government has opened fresh fronts in the hope of stretching the rebels past what they can bear. Emirati money and arms left southern Yemen at the start of the year, and southern units will not deploy beyond their own area. What is settled is the fall of Mocha, the government retreat, and the spread of the fighting. Nothing in the coverage pulls the other way.
Still developing
How much ground changed hands is not settled. A Houthi-linked estimate reaches more than 6,000 sq km, and no government tally sits beside it as this draft closes. Where the fighting now concentrates, and whether southern forces stay within their own region, were both unconfirmed at the time of draft.
How settled the reporting is
Sources
- The Guardian — Houthis seize key Yemeni port of Mocha in drive to take control of Red Sea coast
- Financial Times — Houthis capture Red Sea port in blow to Saudis
- France 24 — Houthis seize key Yemeni Red Sea port, sources say, threatening global energy flows - France 24
- South China Morning Post — Yemen’s Houthis seize control of Red Sea port city Mocha - South China Morning Post