There has been an escalation in fighting between Saudi Arabia’s Yemeni allies in the internationally backed government and the Houthis in recent days
Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis seized control of the strategic port city of Mocha on Thursday, four Yemeni government military sources said, gaining further leverage over the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, one of the world’s most important shipping routes.
The Houthis are launching attacks on the strategic Red Sea islands of Hanish, the government sources told Reuters. Government forces and their allies are relocating south to Dhubab, which sits directly on the strait, across from the island of Perim.
Control of Dhubab and the island is key to gaining hold of the strait, they said. There has been an escalation in fighting between Saudi Arabia’s Yemeni allies in the internationally backed government and the Houthis in recent days, creating a second theatre of war in the Iran conflict that threatens global energy supplies.
A U.N.-brokered truce in Yemen in 2022 largely halted years of war but has not led to a lasting settlement, with the latest fighting threatening a return to full-scale conflict.
Bab el-Mandeb, or the Gate of Tears, named for its perilous navigation conditions, is the southern outlet of the Red Sea, between Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula and Djibouti and Eritrea on the African coast, making it a major prize for the Houthis, who control Yemen’s most populous areas and much of the north.
It is one of the world’s most important routes for crude oil and fuel from the Gulf bound for the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal, or the Suez-Mediterranean pipeline on Egypt’s Red Sea coast, as well as commodities bound for Asia, including Russian oil.
Blocking the narrow passage would isolate Gulf oil-producing countries, such as energy superpower Saudi Arabia, from their main shipping routes after Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz — the primary maritime energy artery between Asia and Europe.
The escalating conflict in Yemen comes as Iran and the United States staged their biggest declared wave of tit-for-tat attacks on shipping in the Gulf region since the war began in February.
Source: Khaleejtimes
