Warning about the Houthis’ plan to seize the coastal area along the Bab el-Mandeb Strait

🔸Agence France-Presse reported on Wednesday, citing a minister in Yemen’s official government, that the Yemeni Shiite Houthis, who receive support from the Islamic Republic, are preparing an attack and to seize the coastal area along the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

🔸The warning is serious because, if the Houthis succeed, controlling this vital waterway—whose importance has grown even more after the closing of the Strait of Hormuz—would become easier.

🔸The Bab el-Mandeb Strait connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, the Arabian Sea, and the Indian Ocean, and at its narrowest point its width is about 28 kilometers. Bab el-Mandeb is one of the main maritime routes for traffic between Asia, Europe, and the Middle East via the Suez Canal. About 12% of the world’s oil and 8% of the liquefied natural gas needed for the world pass through this strait.

🔸The Yemeni Shiite Houthis, who have sided with Tehran in the joint war between Israel and the United States with Iran, have threatened since the end of last Tir month that, in the spirit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ actions in the Strait of Hormuz, they will close the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

🔸As reported by Agence France-Presse, citing Muammar Al-Eryani, the minister of information in Yemen’s government, the Houthi “militant group is trying, by expanding its own presence along the western coast of Yemen and seizing Yemen’s strategic islands in the Red Sea, to create conditions to take control of Bab el-Mandeb.”

🔸At present, the Houthis do not have direct control over any coastal areas of Yemen and only control the important port city of Hodeidah in the north of the country, and they have repeatedly attacked ships in the Red Sea.