• Advance brings group closer to Hanish islands, Bab el-Mandab• Over 70 wounded in attacks on southern Saudi Arabia; Riyadh launches several retaliatory airstrikes across Yemen• Coalition allies regroup near Dhubab opposite Perim island
SANAA: Houthi forces on Thursday seized the strategic Yemeni port city of Mocha and pushed south along the Red Sea coast towards the Hanish islands, raising fears that fighting could threaten one of the world’s most important shipping routes.
The advance brings the group closer to the Bab el-Mandab strait, the narrow waterway connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and a crucial passage for oil, fuel and international trade.
The development comes at a particularly sensitive moment for global energy markets. Saudi Arabia has increasingly relied on its Red Sea export route after disruption to traffic through the Strait of Hormuz during the wider conflict with Iran.
Millions of barrels have instead been shipped through the Saudi port of Yanbu.
