Houthis Seize Perim Island and Complete Takeover of Bab-el-Mandeb Strait

Yemen’s Houthis on Friday seized Perim Island in the middle of the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, completing their takeover of the area around one of the world’s most important maritime chokepoints, according to a local government official.

The move gives the Iran-aligned group control of key territory on both the Yemeni shore and an island that physically divides the 29km-wide strait into separate shipping channels.

A government official told AFP that armed Houthi fighters arrived by boat after government forces withdrew from the island, also known as Mayyun.

“The Houthis have completed their takeover of the Bab al-Mandab area and Mayyun Island, which is located in the middle of the strait,” the official said.

Control Moves Into the Strait

Perim’s position makes the advance materially different from previous Houthi pressure on Red Sea shipping.

Holding the island alongside nearby coastal territory gives the group positions close enough to passing vessels to threaten them with artillery and other short-range weapons, in addition to missiles and drones launched from farther inland.

An eyewitness said Houthi gunmen were “deploying along the Bab al-Mandab shore and are driving around in military vehicles.”

The advance follows a rapid push along Yemen’s Red Sea coast. The Houthis seized the port city of Mocha and moved south toward the Bab-el-Mandeb area, while government forces pulled back along the coastline.

Reuters reported that the Houthis had also advanced toward Dhubab, directly opposite Perim Island and positioned on the strait.

The result leaves the group controlling nearly all of Yemen’s Red Sea coastline and gives it a direct presence across the waterway's approaches.

Pressure on Two Chokepoints

The capture comes as disruption at the Strait of Hormuz has already forced Saudi Arabia to rely more heavily on its western export infrastructure.

Saudi crude has been routed through the East-West pipeline toward the Red Sea port of Yanbu as an alternative to Hormuz, where shipping has been sharply reduced during the conflict involving Iran and the U.S.

Bab-el-Mandeb forms the southern exit from that Red Sea route.

With the Houthis now controlling key territory around the strait, both Hormuz and Bab-el-Mandeb are under simultaneous pressure from Iran and an Iran-aligned force.

No comparable third maritime route exists for Gulf exports. About 10% of global seaborne trade normally passes through Bab-el-Mandeb, according to the figures provided.

Saudi Arabia is particularly exposed. The Houthis declared a naval blockade against the kingdom in July, although their humanitarian operations coordination center has said Red Sea navigation remains safe for shipping other than Saudi vessels.

Strategic Stakes Rise

The territorial shift follows weeks of intensified fighting along Yemen’s western coast.

Hundreds of people have been killed since the Houthis launched their offensive around Bab-el-Mandeb, according to AFP.

U.N. Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg warned the Security Council that the conflict had entered “a new and more dangerous phase.”

He said the Houthi takeover of Mocha had established “a direct presence on the approaches to one of the world’s most vital straits” and raised concerns over freedom of navigation.

Yemeni government, Iranian and regional sources told Reuters that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps had directly guided the coastal offensive.

Iran has said the Yemen conflict cannot be resolved through blockade or military action. Houthi spokesperson Mohammed Abdulsalam has described the group’s operations as defensive and said they would stop when attacks on Yemen ended.

Oil Markets React

The mounting pressure on regional shipping routes has already pushed energy prices higher.

Brent crude rose above $105 a barrel during Thursday’s trading and was subsequently above $107, according to the information provided.

The disruption comes as Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, has increasingly depended on its Red Sea route because of restrictions around Hormuz.

Control of Perim and the surrounding Bab-el-Mandeb coastline therefore gives the Houthis leverage at the exit point of Saudi Arabia's main alternative to the Gulf chokepoint.

The capture marks one of the most strategically consequential territorial shifts of the Yemen war, extending the conflict directly into the geography of global energy and maritime trade.