Yemen loyalists retake Red Sea port of Mokha: spokesman

Pro-government forces advance in the western Yemeni coastal town of Mokha in a bid to drive the Shiite Houthi rebels away from the Red Sea coast. Forces supporting president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi, backed by the Arab coalition, began a major offensive on January 7 to recapture the coastline overlooking the Bab Al Mandab. Saleh Al Obeidi / Agence France-Presse
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ADEN // Yemeni government forces took full control of the Red Sea coastal town of Mokha on Friday after weeks of deadly fighting with Shiite rebels and their allies and are now preparing to head northwards to Hodeida, an army spokesman said.

“We have done with the Battle of Mokha,” armed forces spokesman Mohammed Al-Naqib said, adding that the rebels had been forced to flee the town. “We now preparing for the second phase of the battle for the coast, which is to advance towards Hodeida.”

Another loyalist military source confirmed that government forces were in “full control”, after encountering fierce resistance. Twenty-four rebels and eight loyalist troops were killed in fighting on Wednesday alone.

Before the government launched its offensive on January 7, the rebels controlled virtually all of Yemen’s 450 kilometre Red Sea coastline. But with the support of the Saudi-led coalition, which includes the UAE, the loyalists have made their biggest advances in months in heavy fighting that has seen more than 400 combatants killed.

Government forces had already taken Mokha’s docks earlier this month but there was heavy fighting in other parts of the town before the rebels withdrew north towards the main Red Sea port city of Hodeida, which they still control.

Tens of thousands of civilians were trapped in the fighting. Many of them had sought refuge in Mokha after fleeing their homes in towns to the south as government forces pushed up the coast.

The coalition has enforced an air and sea blockade of rebel-held territory that prevented the rebels making any use of Mokha’s small docks.

All deliveries of basic goods are under UN supervision and those by sea pass through Hodeida making the port city vital to the rebels.

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* Agence France Presse