Houthi rebels seize strategic Mokha port, tightening grip on Red Sea shipping

On the western coast of Yemen, a port city named Mokha has passed into the hands of Iran-backed Houthi rebels — a quiet but consequential shift in a conflict that has long reverberated far beyond its borders. Mokha's value lies not in its size but in its position: fifty miles from the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the narrow throat through which roughly a twelfth of the world's maritime trade must pass. In a war defined by fragmentation, this southward reach by the Houthis marks a new chapter in the struggle over who controls the edges of global commerce.