Significant development: The Houthis have captured the port of Mocha on the Red Sea. Why is the city significant? It is located on the southwestern coast of Yemen, very close to the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait (described as a chokepoint), and whoever controls the port of Mocha and the surrounding coast can directly influence international shipping freedom and negotiate power against global powers. From the Saudi perspective, this allows for the strangling of their maritime export: on one side, the Strait of Hormuz and Iran, on the other side, Bab-el-Mandeb and the Houthis.
Amichai Stein (Diplomatic Correspondent) · View on X