Live Updates: Diesel hits record $6 a gallon as, reports say, Houthis take key territory along Red Sea - CBS News
Houthi rebels have captured Yemen's Red Sea coast, securing control over the strategic Bab el-Mandab Strait. The escalation has led to a surge in displaced persons and rising global oil prices.
Why it matters
The control of this maritime chokepoint threatens global energy supplies and exacerbates a severe humanitarian crisis in Yemen.
Yemen's Riyadh-backed government forces said on Saturday they had struck Iran-allied Houthi fighters in the strategic Red Sea city of Mokha.
Following a weeklong offensive, the Houthis on Friday captured Yemen's Red Sea coast, cementing their hold on the Bab el-Mandab Strait, a vital artery for Saudi Arabian oil exports as the Strait of Hormuz remains closed amid the U.S.-Iran war.
They had seized Mocha the day before after heavy fighting.
"The armed forces destroyed vehicles and weapons and killed members of the Houthi terrorist militia backed by the Iranian regime" near Mokha's port, the government news agency Saba reported on Saturday.
The spokesman for the Yemeni government forces, Majed Abdullah al-Nazili, said they had also struck Houthi vehicles and fighters on the Mokha-Dhubab road, just outside the city, according to Saba.
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