Life.ru says Yemen's government 'restored control' of Mocha; Público says it 'will have' regained the port

The claim. Yemen's government says its forces have taken back Mocha, a port on the Red Sea. We hold two reports on it, both published on 5 October. Neither confirms it independently.

Stated or hedged.

One standard, both sides. Público puts the government's gain and the Houthi gain in the same conditional. Life.ru's headline says the Houthis were "knocked out" of the port and gives no source. The source appears only in the body.

Who is missing. Neither report quotes a Houthi source. Neither counts dead, wounded or displaced. Neither says what the fighting means for ships in the Red Sea.

What is not settled. - Whether government forces hold Mocha. This is one party's claim, and nobody has confirmed it. - When the Houthis took the city. Only Life.ru gives a date. - Whether Taiz is encircled. Only Público says so, and it hedges. - What the Houthis say. We hold no report that carries their account.

What this is about. Who controls Mocha, a Yemeni port on the Red Sea. It sits near the narrow strait that links the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.

How it got here. Yemen has been at war since 2014. That September the Houthis, an armed movement from the country's north, took the capital, Sanaa. They forced out the internationally recognised government. In March 2015 a coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates intervened on the government's side. Since 2022 a Presidential Leadership Council has led that government. A UN-brokered truce in April 2022 reduced the fighting but did not end the war. From November 2023, after the war in Gaza began, the Houthis attacked commercial ships in the Red Sea. They said they were acting in support of Palestinians. The United States and Britain struck Houthi targets from January 2024.

The actors. - The Houthis hold Sanaa and much of the north and west. Iran backs them. How far it directs them is disputed. - The recognised government is based in Aden and backed by Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Its news agency is SABA. - Taiz, Yemen's third city, has been split by front lines for most of the war.

What is at stake. The Bab el-Mandeb strait is one of the world's main shipping lanes. Ships using the Suez Canal pass through it. Whoever holds the coast beside it can threaten that traffic or protect it. Houthi attacks pushed many shipping lines to sail around Africa instead, which made trade between Asia and Europe slower and more expensive.

Where it stands. Life.ru says the Houthis had held Mocha since the start of September. The government now says it has retaken the port. We hold no independent confirmation and no Houthi account.