Iran-backed Houthi forces captured the strategic Red Sea port city of Mocha on Thursday after Yemeni troops commanded by Lieutenant General Tareq Saleh withdrew following intense fighting. During the offensive, an audio recording purportedly carrying Saleh’s voice circulated, with his National Resistance Forces accusing the Houthis of using artificial intelligence to clone his voice and undermine the morale of government-aligned troops.

The disputed recording emerged as Anthropic released a report detailing the alleged use of its Claude AI model by a weapons-development cell in northern Yemen to work on missile-guidance software. Saleh’s forces and the Mocha-based satellite television channel Aljoumhouriya TV described the audio attributed to the commander as an AI fabrication, although the reported use of artificial intelligence in producing the recording has not been independently verified.

Strategic Port Falls To Houthi Forces

Mocha is located on Yemen’s Red Sea coast near the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, a crucial maritime passage linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. Its capture marks one of the Houthis’ most significant territorial gains since a UN-brokered truce in 2022 largely halted major changes along the country’s civil war front lines.

Saleh, a nephew of former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, commands the UAE-backed faction of the National Resistance Forces and had established Mocha as his principal base. The fall of the city brings the Houthis closer to the narrow Bab al-Mandeb waterway, raising concerns about the potential for further disruption to a major international shipping route.

Any threat to the passage could have wider implications for global trade and energy supplies. The Bab al-Mandeb Strait is a key link between the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, and disruptions there, combined with threats to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, could put additional pressure on global oil supplies and trade between Asia and Europe.

Audio Attributed To Saleh Spreads During Offensive

The recording began circulating as Houthi fighters advanced through positions held by Saleh’s forces along Yemen’s western coast. It purportedly featured Saleh announcing a retreat and contained messages suggesting that withdrawing from positions did not amount to defeat.

“Heroes, these young men have learnt that the tide can turn in battle. War demands both advance and retreat. Some days favour you and others do not, and there is no shame in that. We have reserves, additional strength and the men to continue fighting,” the audio circulated in Saleh’s name said in Arabic.

Another portion of the purported recording instructed military units to pull back towards Mocha. “After assessing the situation, and following betrayal from within, the failure of our allies and heavy losses suffered for the homeland and the Republic, all units must withdraw to Mocha so that the enemy can be targeted in open terrain… I repeat, all units must withdraw to Mocha so that the enemy can be targeted in open terrain,” it said.

The recording was amplified on social media by Yemeni activist Adel al-Hasani, whose account has nearly half a million followers, according to an assessment posted by Basha Report, an open-source intelligence and conflict-monitoring account on X. Its circulation gave the message significant reach at a time when troops were under battlefield pressure and conflicting accounts were emerging over the situation in Mocha.

National Resistance Calls Recording An AI Fabrication

The National Resistance’s military media accused the Houthis of manufacturing the recording through artificial intelligence and falsely attributing it to Saleh. Aljoumhouriya TV also rejected the recording, describing it as “a failed attempt to mislead public opinion and affect morale”.

“The Houthis fabricated an audio recording using artificial intelligence and attributed it to Major General Staff Tareq Saleh in a failed attempt to mislead public opinion and affect morale,” the Mocha-based television channel said in a post on X.

Saleh’s media arm said the commander’s genuine statements and positions would be issued only through official National Resistance military channels. It warned that any material attributed to Saleh outside those channels should not be considered authenticated.

The alleged operation was also accompanied by another reported attempt to influence troops on the western coast. At around 2 am on September 10, Houthi forces allegedly sent messages offering amnesty to soldiers who laid down their weapons, surrendered and returned home, according to Basha Report.

The messages and disputed audio appeared intended to create the impression among government-aligned forces that their resistance was weakening and that withdrawal or surrender was the safest course. However, neither the messages nor their reported impact on soldiers has been independently verified.

Allegations Emerge Alongside Report On AI And Missile Development

The claims surrounding the disputed Saleh recording surfaced as separate evidence pointed to efforts by actors in Houthi-controlled northern Yemen to use advanced artificial intelligence for military purposes.

Anthropic, the company behind the Claude AI model, published a 154-page threat intelligence report on Thursday examining how governments and non-state groups had used its AI systems in warfare and weapons-related activities.

The report said a weapons-development cell in northern Yemen had used Claude Code to work on guidance, navigation and control software linked to a guided rocket and other missile programmes. The projects reportedly included a multi-stage ballistic missile with a stated range of more than 2,000 kilometres and an R2000 missile family that included a hypersonic-glide variant.

Anthropic did not explicitly name the Houthis in the report, but the details provided pointed to the Yemeni Shia movement. The allegations have drawn attention to the possible combination of conventional military operations, missile development and digital tools in the country’s continuing conflict.

The disputed audio recording has added a further dimension to that debate. Saleh’s forces maintain that the imitation of their commander’s voice was intended to create confusion and weaken troop morale during a critical battlefield setback, while the Houthis’ capture of Mocha has brought renewed strategic focus to Yemen’s western coast and the approaches to the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.

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