Yemen's Houthis have seized the strategic Red Sea port city of Mokha from Saudi-backed pro-government forces, military sources and witnesses say. The Houthis said they posed no threat to international shipping but reiterated their threat to target vessels from Saudi Arabia, which has relied on the Red Sea for oil exports since the US and Israel's war effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf.

On Friday, Yemeni government forces withdrew from the island of Perim in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, according to officials, with witnesses reporting that Houthi forces moved onto the island. The strait is the southern gateway to a key shipping route that links Asia and Europe via the Red Sea and Suez canal.

Mokha residents said Houthi fighters moved into the city after fierce clashes with pro-government forces on Wednesday night, prompting many families to flee their homes." The take over came without warning.

Panic spread throughout the area, forcing people to flee amid distressing scenes of injured people lying in the streets with no-one there to help them," one man told BBC Arabic's Middle East Lifeline programme. Another man said that Houthi fighters were patrolling the streets of Mokha on Thursday, while government offices and shops were closed."

At the moment, we don't know what Ansar Allah will do," he added, using the group's formal name. " Everyone is afraid for their safety."

Many displaced families are heading east towards the city of Aden, where Yemen's internationally recognised Presidential Leadership Council and government are based." We fled with our children and kept running.

We have no bedding, no home, nothing with us. Everything was destroyed within an hour.

They didn't even give us a chance or warn us beforeh and," one woman told BBC Arabic." We are women with no means of defending ourselves, and we have innocent children with us."

There was no immediate confirmation of Mokha's capture from the Houthis. A Yemeni military source told AFP news agency that Houthi fighters had also seized Zuqar Island in the Red Sea, about 80km north-west of Mokha, after launching a barrage of rockets and a ground assault using boats.

They said: " The Houthis have completed their take over of the Bab al-Mandab area and Mayyun Island, which is located in the middle of the strait." Meanwhile, the head of the Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad al-Alimi, urged Arab states and other countries to help protect Yemen's coasts and restore state control.