Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels seized the strategic Red Sea port city of Mocha on Thursday, delivering a significant blow to the internationally recognized government and expanding their control near the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.

Government forces allied with Saudi Arabia withdrew from the city and its port after intense fighting, according to multiple Yemeni officials and military sources. The Houthis also took the nearby district of Hays as part of the advance in Taiz province.

Mocha lies less than 50 miles north of the narrow Bab al-Mandeb Strait, a critical chokepoint for global trade that handles 10 to 12 percent of world commerce. Control of the port gives the Houthis a stronger position to monitor and potentially disrupt shipping routes connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.

Lt. Gen. Tareq Saleh, the government-aligned commander who had held the area, announced on social media that his forces were reorganizing and establishing an alternative command center in consultation with the Saudi-led coalition. Casualties were reported on the government side during several days of clashes.

The seizure marks an escalation in fighting along Yemen's western coast, shifting focus from northern fronts and threatening maritime traffic already pressured by Houthi attacks in recent years. Crude oil prices have remained above $100 per barrel amid the broader regional tensions involving Iran.

The Houthis, who control much of northern Yemen and its population centers, have long been backed by Iran in the civil war that erupted after their 2014 takeover of Sanaa. A Saudi-led coalition intervened in 2015 to support the recognized government, but a 2022 UN-brokered truce has largely collapsed in this latest round of fighting.

Analysts noted that the gain allows the Houthis greater leverage over the strait and Yemen's Red Sea coastline, complicating efforts by Saudi Arabia and its allies to contain the group's influence.