World News
The Houthis take Mokha, Brent passes 105 dollars and only 12 ships cross Bab Al Mandeb in a day as Yemen's government regroups 46km to the south
By Staff Writer | 11 September 2026
Houthi forces entered the Red Sea port city of Mokha on Thursday after several days of fighting, and the government forces that had held it withdrew to Dhubab, 46 kilometres to the south, to regroup. Brent rose 4.12 per cent to 105.40 dollars a barrel by 4.45pm UAE time and West Texas Intermediate passed 100 dollars. Preliminary tracking data put transits of the strait at 12 vessels by 6pm, against 30 on Wednesday.
Mokha lies about 150 kilometres south of the Houthi-held port of Hodeidah and has been the main base for government forces on Yemen's Red Sea coast. Its loss puts the Houthis within reach of the coast overlooking Bab Al Mandeb, the 20 kilometre wide channel at the southern entrance to the Red Sea through which about 10 per cent of the world's seaborne oil passes, and through which Saudi crude bound for Asia normally travels.
What the government said
Tareq Saleh, Vice Chairman of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council, said in a statement that government forces, including National Resistance units, the Giants Brigades, the Nation's Shield forces and units from Taiz, had suffered deaths and injuries during several days of Houthi attacks. A Yemeni official said the forces had left Mokha and were now deployed at Dhubab, 46 kilometres south of the city. A Yemeni military source separately said the Houthis had also taken Zuqar Island in the southern Red Sea after rocket attacks and a ground assault by boat.
We ordered the formation of an alternative command centre in a safe location to regroup the forces in consultation with the Arab coalition command and the Presidential Leadership Council
Tareq Saleh, Vice Chairman of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council, 10 September 2026
Yemen's armed forces said on Thursday that Houthi control of the coast along the strait would threaten freedom of navigation, international trade and the flow of energy supplies, and asked for international support for the government's campaign. That statement described the Houthis as advancing towards the strait rather than as holding Mokha, and said government forces were redeploying along the coast. A Houthi commander, unnamed in the reporting, claimed that the mountains and high ground around the city were under Houthi control and that the city could be considered to have fallen even where Houthi forces were not physically present. The Houthis separately said that navigation through the Red Sea and the strait was safe and operating normally. Each of those is a party's own account and none has been independently verified.
The price and the traffic
Brent, the benchmark for two thirds of the world's oil, was up 4.12 per cent at 105.40 dollars a barrel at 4.45pm UAE time. West Texas Intermediate rose 4.29 per cent to 100.20 dollars, above 100 for the first time since May. Brent had reached an intraday high of 126 dollars in late April after the strikes on Iran by the United States and Israel, and had fallen back during the months of peace talks before rising again this week as the United States and Iran resumed strikes on tankers in the Gulf.
It imperils the flows in and out of the Red Sea at a time when the Strait of Hormuz is already partially blocked.
Sasha Foss, energy analyst at CSC Commodities, 10 September 2026
Preliminary data from the tracking firm Kpler counted 12 vessels through Bab Al Mandeb by 6pm on Thursday, against 30 on Wednesday, 26 on Tuesday and 29 on Monday. Only one of the 12 was entering the Red Sea, compared with 17 on Wednesday. Daily transits of the Strait of Hormuz, which exceeded 100 before the war began on 28 February, have also fallen sharply.
The attacks on Saudi cities
The coalition supporting Yemen's internationally recognised government said Houthi missiles and drones had injured at least 73 civilians in Abha, Khamis Mushait, Jazan and Najran on Wednesday, and its spokesman, Maj Gen Turki Al Malki, said the coalition would deal with the attacks in accordance with the principle of self-defence under international law. The Houthis said the coalition had responded with 54 air strikes across Yemen, and their news agency reported around 40 further strikes on Thursday in Taiz, Hodeidah, Al Jawf and Marib. Late on Thursday Saudi Arabia's Civil Defence activated early warning systems in Abha and Khamis Mushait and asked residents to follow official instructions.
Pakistan, which has a defence pact with Saudi Arabia and Turkey, delivered a Saudi message to Tehran on Tuesday asking it to restrain the Houthis. An Iranian official confirmed that the message had been received and said Tehran did not control the group. For shipping, the number that matters is the one on the tracker: one vessel entered the Red Sea on Thursday, and the force that now holds Mokha has said in terms that it intends to target the oil routes through the strait.