Houthis seize the mouth of the Red Sea

A week-old offensive has handed the Houthis Yemen's western coast, the Bab al-Mandab chokepoint, and leverage over the oil the world still needs.

Sep 11, 2026

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Houthis seize the mouth of the Red Sea

A week-old offensive has handed the Houthis Yemen's western coast, the Bab al-Mandab chokepoint, and leverage over the oil the world still needs.

In brief

A week-old offensive has handed the Houthis Yemen's western coast, the Bab al-Mandab chokepoint, and leverage over the oil the world still needs. With Hormuz effectively shut, whoever holds Bab al-Mandab holds the route Saudi oil takes to Asia, and the Houthis now hold it. Originally reported by BBC News.

They took the island

Map of Yemen with Perim, Dhubab and Mokha represented with black dots

The Houthis seized Perim Island at the mouth of the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a source in Yemen's internationally recognised government told the BBC. Pro-government forces withdrew on Friday.

The whole coast, in a week

A dozen Houthi men wearing combat clothes, berets and holding large guns. The sky is blue and the men are looking straight ahead.

Perim fell a day after the Houthis captured the port city of Mokha from Saudi-backed forces. A Yemeni military official said the group now controls the entire coastline.

“maritime navigation is safe for all companies except for Saudi vessels”

Everyone but the Saudis

The Houthis say shipping is safe, with one exception. Their spokesman framed the 3 September operation as a response to Saudi "blatant aggression" and claimed six districts taken in Taiz and Hodeidah.

The pipeline went down

An aerial view shows vapour rising from a refinery at BP's largest crude oil processing facility in the world, taken in Indiana on 8 September.

Saudi Arabia shut its east-west oil pipeline as a precaution after attacks in the Riyadh and Medina regions injured several people. That pipeline was the workaround for a closed Strait of Hormuz.

Now there is no detour

With Hormuz effectively closed by the US-Iran conflict, Saudi Arabia leaned on the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab to reach Asian buyers. Perim sits at the strait's narrowest point.

Riyadh wants American jets

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman personally pressed Donald Trump to strike the Houthis, sources told CBS News. Trump has offered intelligence and targeting help instead of troops.

Families fleeing for the third time

Families fleeing for the third time

At least 46,000 people have been displaced since the fighting escalated, and the IOM says the figure is rising by the hour. Hundreds have been killed.

“Families are being forced to flee for the second or third time in this conflict, with almost nothing left.”

The one thing

With Hormuz effectively shut, whoever holds Bab al-Mandab holds the route Saudi oil takes to Asia, and the Houthis now hold it.

Read the original on BBC News

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