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Yemeni forces recapture strategic port city of Mokha from Saudi-backed troops

The Cradle | September 10, 2026

The Ansarallah-led Yemeni Armed Forces (YAF) captured the southwestern port city of Mokha on 10 September, in a lightning advance that comes after heavy losses were inflicted by the YAF on Saudi Arabia and its proxies inside Yemen.

Reuters cited sources as saying that Mokha fell to YAF troops on Thursday.

Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Sanaa also reported that Ansarallah-led YAF forces have “achieved a stunning victory against the internationally recognized Yemeni government forces.”

“The city has been taken. [Internationally recognized, Saudi-backed] government forces have fully withdrawn all of their military divisions,” local sources told the correspondent.

The YAF now has “full advantage to prevent ships from crossing Bab al-Mandab and also … the ability to cut off three main supply lines to the government in the south of the country,” according to Al Jazeera’s correspondent.

Ansarallah-led forces lost Mokha in 2017 in battles against Saudi and Emirati-backed forces.

The recapture comes after a major YAF mobilization that began earlier this year, aimed at expelling Saudi-backed forces and what remains of Emirati-supported militias.

It also follows major losses inflicted on Saudi-backed troops in Yemen, belonging to the Saudi-backed, Aden-based Presidential Leadership Council (PLC).

President of Yemen’s Sanaa government Mahdi al-Mashat released a statement hours before the recapture of Mokha, vowing amnesty for all Saudi-backed fighters who lay down their arms.

A statement on YAF official media, released early on Thursday, said Mashat issued “a presidential amnesty for all those who were deceived into fighting on the Western Coast fronts, provided they lay down their arms and return to their senses.”

The statement directed “the local authorities in the governorates of Hodeidah and Taiz to make the necessary arrangements to implement the amnesty.”

A day earlier, new Yemeni missile strikes hit Saudi military and energy infrastructure inside the kingdom. These sites have been under heavy Yemeni attacks in recent days.

Sanaa’s recent escalation of retaliatory operations was prompted by Saudi Arabia’s July attack on Sanaa International Airport, which has been under blockade by the kingdom for more than a decade since Riyadh launched its brutal war on Yemen in 2015 at the head of an Arab coalition.

A 2023 Saudi–Yemeni peace process nearly resulted in an agreement between the two sides.

The peace talks stalled but prevented a major escalation from erupting. Yet the kingdom has continued attacks for years and its illegal and deadly blockade of Yemeni ports and airports.

Sanaa has been heavily mobilizing and has vowed to expel the Saudi-led coalition from Yemen.

“The continued Saudi aggression against Yemen will not go unanswered or unpunished. The Saudi enemy must bear the consequences of its crimes against the Yemeni people,” Yemeni army spokesman Yahya Saree said on Monday following several military operations.

September 10, 2026 - Posted by | Wars for Israel | ,

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