For more than a week, Iran-backed Houthis have pounded Yemen’s city of Mokha, its port and nearby harbors close to the Bab al-Mandab Strait with dozens of ballistic missiles and drones.
The sweeping escalation in Mokha has knocked the port out of service and caused heavy damage to infrastructure, facilities and docked vessels.
The Houthis say they are targeting military-linked sites and vessels, but those claims have not been verified.
Government and informed sources say the scale and pattern of the attacks point to broader aims, including possible military shifts along the western coast and Houthi fears that Mokha could emerge as a commercial rival to the Houthi-held port of Hodeidah.
Government forces on the western coast say the Houthis have fired 46 ballistic missiles and 55 drones at the commercial port and nearby harbors, while also using explosive-laden boats.
Informed sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Houthis fear a surprise government offensive but remain uncertain about where any operation could begin.
That concern, the sources said, has driven attacks on positions held by elite Yemeni army units now ready to take part in any potential battle launched from Marib province.
The Houthis have sharply intensified strikes on Mokha port and nearby facilities in an apparent effort to disrupt its expanding role as a Red Sea commercial hub, just as development and rehabilitation work is nearing completion to allow the port to receive container ships and boost import and export activity.
The unprecedented bombardment has halted port operations and stopped ships carrying food, electrical goods, and other cargo from arriving from the opposite shore of the Red Sea, at a time when the port had been preparing for a new phase of commercial activity.
Informed sources say the scale of the attacks reflects Mokha’s growing importance to importers and traders, especially those moving goods to northern Yemen through Houthi-controlled Hodeidah port, where commercial sources say they face multiple levies and fees.
The targets struck by missiles and drones also point to Houthi fears that Mokha could become an alternative commercial and maritime hub, drawing on its location near Bab al-Mandab and its ability to serve large areas including Taiz, Ibb, and parts of Lahj, Hodeidah, and al-Dhale.
But the Houthis’ calculations go beyond trade, according to the sources. The group also sees Mokha as a possible launch point for military operations against other areas it controls in Hodeidah province, placing the city and its port within a wider military equation.
Civilian facilities hit
The scale of the damage underlines the breadth of the attacks.
In the first days of the bombardment, three commercial vessels docked at the port were destroyed, including a wooden ship carrying goods for several traders and agencies. Unloading operations later stopped after workers were evacuated and rented cranes were put out of service.
The initial strikes killed seven people inside the port, including three civilians — a cook, a laborer, and an administrative employee — and four members of the facilities security force.
The attacks also hit the quay, logistics workshops, and the central hangar, as well as equipment and marine craft used to service vessels, crippling key parts of the port’s operations.
In the following days, the Houthis struck the Tihama, a commercial vessel that carried food and passengers between Yemeni ports, the Horn of Africa, and the Socotra archipelago.
Four crew members were killed, along with two Yemeni rescuers who were trying to save the crew and the vessel, according to local sources.
In the latest attack, the group fired four missiles at a locally owned commercial vessel docked at al-Ardi harbor in the Bab al-Mandab area. The ship, owned by a local contractor, had been under maintenance for several months after unloading its cargo.
Maritime sources said Yemeni contractor Bilal al-Shumairi had bought the vessel, named Amir Khan, from an Indian trader in Indonesia for use in his maritime and commercial activities.
The sources said the crew was Yemeni and had fully evacuated the ship during the previous week, preventing any casualties among its members.
Houthi losses mount
The escalation around Mokha comes as the Houthis suffer battlefield losses along front lines with government forces, particularly south of Hodeidah.
More than 180 Houthi fighters have been killed there, according to government sources, without the group making gains or capturing new positions.
The sources said the losses come as the Houthis seek to reinforce their military presence along western coast fronts while intensifying strikes on Mokha and the Bab al-Mandab area.
They said the pattern suggests an effort to complicate the battlefield and pressure government forces ahead of any possible military move.
The Houthis have also suffered losses on other fronts, including the killing of Hussein al-Hatfi, commander of the guard detail protecting Abdul-Khaliq al-Houthi, brother of the group’s leader and commander of what the Houthis call the “Central Military Region.”
Al-Hatfi was killed in a drone strike carried out by government forces as part of a series of attacks on Houthi positions and gatherings, according to the sources.
Government sources said al-Hatfi was from the Majz area of Saada province and was the fourth of his brothers to be killed while fighting in Houthi ranks since the war began.
