Houthi forces have captured the historic Red Sea port of Mocha and are advancing on Dhubab, positioning themselves to control the 20-kilometre-wide Bab el-Mandeb Strait with artillery alone, a strategic prize that, combined with Iran's effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, would give the axis of resistance simultaneous leverage over both of the Middle East's critical maritime chokepoints, threatening to isolate Gulf oil producers, add 0.7 percentage points to global core inflation, displace nearly 20,000 Yemenis in a single week, and shatter a fragile four-year truce that UN mediators had hoped to transform into a political settlement, as Saudi Arabia weighs a decisive military response and analysts conclude that both sides now believe "a return to fighting is in their interest."