Iran-aligned Houthi fighters have captured a strategic Yemeni port near Africa, giving the armed group greater leverage over one of the world’s most important shipping routes as oil prices climbed above $105 a barrel.
Mocha is approximately 80 kilometres from the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which separates Yemen from Djibouti and Eritrea on Africa’s eastern coast.
The strait connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and forms part of the shortest maritime route between Asia and Europe through Egypt’s Suez Canal. About 12% of global trade normally passes through the waterway.
The Houthis’ takeover of Mocha was confirmed to the Associated Press by Ahmed Baash, a commander with Yemen’s government-allied National Resistance Forces, and Hazam al-Assad, a member of the Houthis’ political bureau.
Yemeni government forces also acknowledged withdrawing south of Mocha after suffering casualties during the Houthi offensive, the Guardian reported.
