Houthis seize key positions along Yemen’s Red Sea coast

Houthi forces have rapidly expanded their control along Yemen’s Red Sea coast, seizing key positions near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and heightening concerns over one of the world’s most important shipping routes.

The Iran-backed group captured Perim, also known as Mayyun, an island in the middle of the strait, several news agencies reported, citing government sources, witnesses and other sources. The reported island seizure followed the Houthis’ capture of the historic port city of Mocha on Thursday and an advance toward Dhubab, a strategic coastal town overlooking Bab el-Mandeb.

Government officials told Reuters that boats carrying Houthi fighters reached Mayyun after forces loyal to Yemen’s internationally recognized, Saudi-backed government withdrew. One source told AFP: “The Houthis have completed their takeover of the Bab al-Mandeb area.” The Sanaa-based Yemen Press Agency, citing field sources, said Houthi forces also seized the Al-Omari camp overlooking the strait.

There has been no official announcement by the Houthi government confirming control over Bab el-Mandeb, Al Jazeera reported. But the advance gives the rebels a stronger position along the southern gateway to the Red Sea, a route linking the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea and onward to Europe and Asia.

The development comes as the Strait of Hormuz, through which about one-fifth of global oil or energy shipments typically pass, has been disrupted since the war between the United States and Iran began earlier this year. Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, has relied more heavily on the Red Sea route as an alternative for crude shipments to Europe.

Oil markets reacted to the renewed instability. Global oil prices appeared set Friday to close above $100 a barrel for the first time since mid-May, while Al Jazeera reported that the average price of diesel in the United States surpassed $6 a gallon. The International Energy Agency forecast Friday that global oil supply and demand are likely to fall further this year than previously assumed, with the U.S.-Iran war delaying normal Middle East flows into 2027.

Houthi officials sought to reassure shippers. Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam said Thursday on X that “freedom of navigation and international trade through the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab remain safe and uninterrupted,” adding that “there is no need for international concern” about the strait. Hazem al-Assad, a member of the Houthi politburo, told Al-Araby al-Jadeed on Friday that international shipping faces “no danger” from the group. “Freedom of navigation and international trade in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab are safe and orderly,” he said.

Andreas Krieg, a senior lecturer at King’s College London’s School of Security Studies, said before the reported seizure of Perim that the risk of a broader conflict had “increased substantially.” He said the Houthis were now attacking “both pillars of Saudi security simultaneously: southern Saudi territory and the Kingdom’s Red Sea strategic depth.”

Krieg cautioned, however, that even control of Mocha, Dhubab and Perim would not amount to “full control” of Bab el-Mandeb because the western side of the strait lies outside Yemen. It would, he said, give the Houthis “a dramatically stronger ability to contest, threaten and potentially deny commercial use of the waterway,” creating “an extraordinary shock to the global trading system.”

The conflict’s humanitarian toll is also rising. The United Nations’ International Organization for Migration said Friday that at least 46,000 people had been displaced since fighting escalated last week in the West Coast and Taiz governorates, with numbers “alarmingly rising by the hour.” The agency urged all parties to guarantee humanitarian access and protect civilians, aid workers and assets on the ground.

Reports from Houthi, Saudi and international outlets said Saudi airstrikes later hit Mocha airport, though Al Jazeera said it could not immediately verify the reports and there was no immediate word on casualties or damage. Iran’s Foreign Ministry called for an end to Saudi Arabia’s blockade of Yemen and urged a resumption of negotiations.