{
    "byline": "Bridget Toomey",
    "charset": "UTF-8",
    "dir": null,
    "excerpt": "On September 10, the Houthis seized the strategic port city of Mocha on Yemen\u2019s southern Red Sea coast. The next day, the Iran-backed group pushed south, culminating with the capture of the remaining Red Sea coast and Perim Island in the middle of the Bab al Mandeb Strait, the strategic chokepoint at the southern entrance to the Red Sea. The Houthis also seized the Hanish Islands, an archipelago in the southern Red Sea roughly 100 miles north of Bab al Mandeb. Control of the coast and islands would give the Houthis a direct hold on the Red Sea chokepoint through which significant international shipping flows. However, on September 13, the Yemeni Armed Forces media center announced that government troops had recovered some territory near Bab al Mandeb.",
    "lang": null,
    "length": 7959,
    "publishedTime": null,
    "siteName": null,
    "title": "Houthis take Yemen\u2019s Red Sea coast and key Bab al Mandeb islands"
}