Houthi forces grabbed control of the Yemeni port city of Mocha on Thursday, in a major offensive that comes amid escalated fighting between the Iran-aligned movement and Yemen’s Saudi-backed government.

Hundreds of women and children left Mocha, seeking shelter in the Saudi-backed government-controlled provinces of Lahij and Aden, as the growing violence also threatened to exacerbate an already devastating humanitarian crisis across the Taiz and al-Hodeidah provinces, where more than 20,000 people have been displaced due to clashes over the past two weeks.

Al Jazeera’s Yemeni affairs editor, Ahmed al-Shalafi, highlighted the immediate civilian toll of the military shift. “Areas south of Hodeidah and Mocha witnessed waves of displacement towards Dhubab and Aden,” he said.

Sudden withdrawal

The fall of Mocha is the culmination of a massive Houthi offensive that exposed vulnerabilities within government-aligned defences. According to al-Shalafi, the Houthis applied pressure from three distinct axes starting on September 3: western Taiz, southern Hodeidah, and Mocha city itself.

The combat was intense on the outskirts of Mocha.

A key factor that helped the Houthis take control of the city was the withdrawal of the National Resistance Forces from the fighting, said al-Shalafi and Al Jazeera correspondent Maha Ali, who was reporting from Taiz.

The National Resistance, led by Tareq Saleh — nephew of Yemen’s former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was killed by the Houthis after initially allying with them — has been a central part of the Saudi-backed alliance, and the internationally recognised government it leads.

The Houthis took control of Mocha “following the withdrawal of the National Resistance Forces from them at dawn today and their movement towards Mocha”, al-Shalafi said. He added that it is unclear whether the National Resistance Forces withdrew “to arrange their ranks, or for a military reason, or due to their inability to withstand the intense military formations”.

According to Al Jazeera’s Maha Ali, Saleh ordered forces to execute “a tactical withdrawal and repositioning in exchange for the Houthis’ advance in the al-Waziyah and Mawza fronts”, and instructed them to establish an alternative command centre.

Expanding fronts

The conflict is rapidly spilling over into maritime and distant terrestrial domains. Reuters quoted four unnamed sources as telling it that the Houthis “were launching attacks on the strategic Red Sea islands of Hanish”.

Simultaneously, Ali reported that “the military media of the National Resistance announced that the air aviation [of pro-government forces] targeted Houthi positions in Al-Tuhayta, Al-Salif, and Kamaran Island in Hodeidah governorate, while the Houthis launched two ballistic missiles towards the strategic Zuqar Island”.

Clashes also intensified inland. In Marib, “warplanes targeted Houthi reinforcements coming from Sanaa in Fardhat Nihm and others heading to north and south of Marib”, Ali reported.

Global chokepoint

Mocha’s geography makes its capture a global concern. The city sits approximately 75km (47 miles) north of the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.

Known as the Gate of Tears, this narrow passage is a critical artery for crude oil and fuel travelling from the Gulf to the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal, as well as for Asian commodities and Russian oil.

Al Jazeera’s Yousef Mawry explained that controlling Mocha could give the Houthis a “stranglehold along the Bab al-Mandeb”.

Furthermore, it severs critical anti-Houthi supply lines, including “the road linking Mocha with Taiz” running south from Mocha, and supply lines through Mocha’s port.

“This is a turning point right now in the war,” defence policy analyst Wolfgang Pusztai told Al Jazeera. “This might lead to a breakdown of the government forces in the southern part of Yemen.”

“The port of Mocha was the last harbour fully under control of the internationally recognised government,” Pusztai said.

The international community is reacting with alarm.

A spokesperson for the United Kingdom’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office declared that “the Houthis bear full responsibility for this crisis”, and urged them to “cease their attacks and escalation immediately”.

Coffee origins

Long before it became the focal point of a geopolitical crisis, Mocha was the Arabian Peninsula’s premier commercial hub and the birthplace of the global coffee trade. Mocha coffee gets its name from the city.

Mentioned in ancient Himyarite texts as “Makhn”, the city was first seized by Abyssinians in 517 AD before they were expelled by the Himyarite King Dhu Nuwas.

The Ottoman Empire overtook the city in 1536-1538 AD, transforming it into a military base to launch raids against the Portuguese.

Ironically, it was the Portuguese who became the first Europeans to taste Yemeni coffee when the Sheikh of Mocha hosted them and offered a “black drink that refreshes the body and relaxes the mind”.

According to historians, the Sufi scholar Ali bin Omar al-Shadhili first brought coffee to Mocha from Abyssinia.

The Ottomans initiated the first export operations through the port in 1536, sending beans via the Red Sea to Suez and Alexandria, where they were sold to Europeans. The Dutch secured their first commercial coffee deal in 1628, eventually smuggling live seeds to cultivate in Java and the Americas.

Mocha’s golden age extended through the 17th and 18th centuries. However, the city’s prominence faded in the late 19th century due to conflicts between the Ottomans and the British, and the rapid rise of rival ports in Aden and Hodeidah.

This economic decline devastated the local demographics: Mocha’s population plummeted from approximately 20,000 in the 19th century to just 1,000 in the 1930s, before a slow recovery brought the numbers back up to over 10,000 by 2004.