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Houthis seize Yemen’s Mocha port, raise threat to key global shipping route: Report
The Houthis have also launched attacks on the strategically located Hanish Islands, further intensifying tensions in the region.
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Iran-aligned Houthi militants seized control of Yemen’s port city of Mocha on Thursday, escalating concerns over global energy supplies and shipping through the Red Sea, according to a Reuters report.
The Houthi takeover gives the group greater leverage over the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the strategic southern gateway to the Red Sea and one of the world’s most important shipping routes, the report added.
The Houthis have also launched attacks on the strategically located Hanish Islands, further intensifying tensions in the region.
Also Read | Saudi-led coalition and Houthis trade strikes as Yemen conflict deepens
Houthis' leverage
The Houthis had gained further leverage over the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the southern gateway to the Red Sea and one of the world’s most important shipping routes.
The group was launching attacks on the strategically located Hanish Islands, the report stated.
The Houthis entered the current war alongside Iran with an attack on Israel on March 28, but largely remained quiet before declaring a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia in July and intensifying attacks on the southern part of the kingdom in September.
Also Read | 'Undermined regional security': India condemns Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia
Why Red Sea is crucial
Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, has increasingly relied on the Red Sea shipping route after the Iran conflict effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz, through which around a fifth of the world’s oil previously flowed.
Riyadh and Tehran have long been regional rivals and remain deeply distrustful of each other, despite a China-brokered thaw in relations.
Tensions remained high across the region on Thursday, with Saudi civil defence authorities issuing emergency alerts in the southwestern city of Khamis Mushait for the fourth time in 24 hours as the Houthis launched attacks.
Pakistan has conveyed a warning from Saudi Arabia to Iran, urging Tehran to rein in its Yemeni Houthi allies in an effort to prevent the crisis from escalating, according to Saudi, Pakistani and Iranian sources.
A senior Iranian official confirmed that Pakistan conveyed the message to Tehran on Tuesday, adding that its response was that "Iran does not control the Houthis".
The escalating conflict in Yemen between Saudi Arabia’s allies in the internationally backed government and the Houthis comes as Iran and the United States carried out their biggest declared wave of tit-for-tat attacks on shipping in the Gulf region since the war began in February.
US President Donald Trump again threatened to attack a site associated with Iran’s nuclear programme.
Brent crude prices remained above $100 a barrel as supply routes through both the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea continued to face severe disruption.
