Total collapse: Troops withdraw as city falls VIDEO

The offensive targeted the western part of Taiz province and the southern part of Al Hudaydah province, advancing through several districts in what has been described as one of the fastest shifts in the front lines seen in the war in recent years.

Government forces and the National Resistance Forces (Tareq Saleh’s units) either withdrew or suffered a collapse across a broad front, reportedly retreating toward Aden.

The locations captured include Hays, Al Khawkhah, Al Waziyah, Mawza and the strategically important Khalid ibn al-Walid military camp.

The offensive culminated in the capture of Mocha (Al Mokha), a government-controlled city and port on that section of the Red Sea coast.

Mocha is located approximately 60 to 75 kilometers north of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, one of the world’s most important maritime chokepoints.

Control of Mocha gives the Houthis direct physical access to the strait and international shipping lanes that they had previously disrupted.

This also eliminates the government’s main military and logistical stronghold on the western coast.