The rapid fall of Mocha and the lack of resistance have sparked accusations and clashes among US allies. “The failure this time is not the Yemenis’,” a regional source told CNN on Thursday. “It’s a disaster created in Washington and Riyadh,” he added.
Desperate calls from Yemeni generals for air support began to come in around mid-morning on Thursday. The advance of the Iran-backed Houthis on the strategic Yemeni port of Mocha was in full swing, while support from key ally Saudi Arabia was nowhere to be seen.
“The Houthis threw everything they had into the battle, wave after wave of fighters…along with ballistic missiles and weapons at their disposal,” a senior Yemeni military source told CNN. The source said he had contacted U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) and was assured that the U.S. was “monitoring the situation closely and that Saudi air support was coming.” “But the air support never came,” the source said. “And now Mokha has fallen.” Hours later, on Friday, the Houthis took control of another key coastal position, Perim Island, at the entrance to the Red Sea. The island divides the Bab al-Mandeb Strait in two, giving Tehran de facto control over another important sea route.
The Houthis’ rapid advance is a remarkable development in a conflict that had been largely frozen for years. But the groundwork for the resumption of fighting had been laid for months, amid a standoff between the United States and Iran, as Tehran seeks to use oil prices, and its influence on the global economy, as leverage.
Now, Yemen and the Red Sea have the potential to become a real second front in the war with Iran. Iran’s effective control of the Strait of Hormuz, combined with its strengthening control of the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, threatens to drive oil prices even higher, just weeks before the midterm elections in the United States, which are held on November 3.
While the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, the gateway to the Suez Canal sea route, is less critical to global energy markets than Hormuz, it still serves as a route for essential goods around the world, including millions of barrels of oil every day. The strait has become increasingly important since the start of the war with Iran, as Saudi Arabia has diverted some of its exports through the waterway to avoid Hormuz. “The Houthis do not need advanced weapons to close Bab al-Mandeb. They can simply use a cannon mounted on a vehicle,” said Amr Al-Bidh, the top official in Yemen’s Southern Transitional Council (STC). The STC has fought both the Houthis and Saudi-backed forces in the past and seeks the creation of an independent state in the south.
“It’s a tool of pressure that they have without using advanced weapons,” Al-Bidh told CNN in an interview. “And they will maintain that advantage.”
LIST OF “GHOST” SOLDIERS AND LACK OF SUPPORT
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke twice on Thursday with U.S. President Donald Trump and urged him to strike the Houthis, another source familiar with the matter told CNN on Friday. Trump declined to intervene, the source said. “The United States is focused on protecting our core national security interests, such as ensuring freedom of navigation in the Red Sea, while enabling our regional partners to take the lead in managing and resolving security challenges in the region,” the White House said in response to CNN’s questions about the calls. “We are in ongoing dialogue with Saudi Arabia and the Government of the Republic of Yemen on regional stability.”
The rapid fall of Mocha and the lack of resistance have sparked accusations and clashes among U.S. allies. “The failure this time is not the Yemenis,” a regional source told CNN on Thursday. “It is a disaster created in Washington and Riyadh,” he added. The regional source told CNN that there had been “a complete failure of political leadership,” amid fierce clashes and delays in decision-making in Riyadh.
“There was no airstrike (by Saudi-backed forces), although there were minute-by-minute updates,” the regional source added. “It’s a colossal Saudi-American failure,” he said. Not everyone agrees. Mohammed al-Basha, who has served as an advisor to the U.S. government and the private sector on threats emanating from the Arabian Peninsula, argued that responsibility also falls on Yemeni leaders, whose internal divisions weakened their defenses. “This is related to a deeper problem within the anti-Houthi coalition,” the Washington-based adviser told CNN. “There is no political cohesion.” “I think everyone was aware of the Houthis’ advance toward the west coast. The signs were very clear,” he added. “There is no unified command and control in Yemen.”
Houthi fighters arrived in Mokha on Thursday to find the Yemeni battalions severely depleted. Their rosters were filled with “ghost names” receiving salaries, while the actual strength of the army was only about 20% of what appeared on documents, a Western source with knowledge of the operations told CNN.
The situation was made worse by the fact that the United Arab Emirates, once part of the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, withdrew its remaining forces from the country in January after Saudi Arabia demanded their departure over a dispute. Saudi Arabia has not replaced the troops it withdrew from those barracks and bases. “It doesn’t make sense. I mean, you have the main backer of the military forces on the ground… who has actually been doing all this work for 10 years, and suddenly you ask them to leave and they don’t fill that void,” added Al-Bidh of Yemen’s Southern Transitional Council. “It’s just a lack of strategy and poor management.”
The senior Yemeni official told CNN on Friday that he had “repeatedly warned U.S. Central Command over the past few days, including yesterday, that the situation was becoming critical.” CNN has reached out to CENTCOM for a response.
The head of CENTCOM, Admiral Brad Cooper, was in Saudi Arabia on Thursday for coordination meetings, two sources familiar with the matter said. CENTCOM declined to comment, citing operational security reasons. The Saudi military had been on high alert three weeks ago, the sources told CNN, but had not deployed key air command personnel. The Western source, with knowledge of the battle, said Saudi Arabia had never deployed the personnel needed to control and direct the fighter jets in the event of a serious attack.
“The Saudis left the Yemenis in the lurch,” the Western source told CNN on Thursday. CNN has reached out to the Saudi Ministry of Information for comment on the allegations.
BIG FAILURE
The failure to protect Mokhan and Perim is even more incomprehensible in light of recent news, reported exclusively by CNN, that more than 100 American military advisers had been sent to Saudi Arabia to provide the Kingdom with intelligence and targeting support during its military campaign, according to five sources familiar with the operations.
The US military personnel are working as part of a new joint forces command that was formed in recent weeks amid signs that Iran was stepping up its efforts to help the Houthi attacks, one of the sources, a US official, said. The official estimated the total number of US personnel in Saudi Arabia at about 200. Taking control of strategic points in the Red Sea gives the Houthis much more leeway and a strategic advantage, as it opens up new locations from which the Iranian-backed rebels can launch boats and attacks. Asked what comes next, Al-Basha, the analyst, told CNN: “I think the Houthis will move east. Today we are seeing, through satellites and open source intelligence (OSINT) imagery … that the Houthis are mobilising.”
An adviser to Iran’s supreme leader described the Houthis’ advance on Yemen’s western coast on Friday as a “clear victory,” writing in a post on X that “the American people and Washington’s allies are paying the price for the economic crisis and Trump’s ambitions.” (CNN)