Yemen's Houthis have seized the Red Sea port city of Mocha, Dhubab and Zuqar…

BREAKING: Yemen's Houthis have seized the Red Sea port city of Mocha, Dhubab and Zuqar Island in a series of rapid gains along the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and are now attempting a landing on Perim Island inside the strait itself, which hosts an Emirati air base where Israel has been granted access to, per AFP and Reuters, moving to put the entire chokepoint under their control. The Houthis are acting in full coordination with Iran, which asked them to strengthen their grip on Bab el-Mandeb as a complement to Tehran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz. US officials believe there are currently hundreds of IRGC officers in Yemen working alongside the Houthis with the goal of shutting the strait down completely. Houthi leadership has previously discussed a transit fee system modeled on Iran's at Hormuz, with Chinese vessels exempt. Gulf crude oil reaches Asia by sea through Hormuz or, by pipeline to the Red Sea, through Bab el-Mandeb. Iran holds the first and Houthis are taking the second now.