Houthi rebels have captured several islands in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait in an offensive that has roiled energy markets and cemented the Yemeni group’s control over the vital shipping artery.
The Iran-backed militants took over Perim Island, which splits the strait in two, as well as Zuqar and Hanish islands in the Red Sea, after a blitz along Yemen’s western coast and the capture of Mocha port on Thursday, according to Yemeni analysts.
“Now they are fully in control of Bab al-Mandeb,” said Ahmed Nagi, a Yemen analyst at Crisis Group, who has spoken with Yemeni government officials. “The moment they took Mocha, they took over all the islands facing Mocha.”
Mohammed Al-Basha, founder of the US-based risk advisory company Basha Report, said there were indications that the anti-Houthi coalition of Saudi Arabia-backed Yemeni factions “is crumbling” and “faces an uphill battle to counter the rebel offensive”.
“We are seeing the Houthis win,” he said. “They control the entire Red Sea coastline, and over the past 48 hours have added 130km of coastline, which includes all the main Yemeni islands.”
The Houthi offensive dealt a significant blow to Saudi Arabia and the Yemeni government forces it backs, while boosting Iran’s efforts to push up energy prices as part of its battle with the US.
Brent crude surpassed $100 a barrel this week for the first time since July, climbing as high as $109.
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The Bab al-Mandeb has become a vital route for Saudi Arabia’s oil exports since Iran throttled shipping through the Strait of Hormuz after the US and Israel launched their war against the Islamic republic in February.
The waterway, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, is also a crucial corridor for global maritime trade travelling between east and west through the Suez Canal.
Brigadier General Yahya Saree, the Houthis’ military spokesperson, claimed the strait was “safe for all companies except Saudi ships”.
US President Donald Trump last year launched the first major military campaign of his second term targeting the Houthis “in order to restore freedom of navigation”, after the rebels began attacking shipping during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
After 52 days he abruptly announced a deal with the rebels to end the campaign, which analysts estimated to have cost the US more than $1bn. Axios reported that Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman called Trump twice on Thursday to ask him to launch strikes against the Houthis, but the US president declined.
The White House declined on Friday to say whether the administration would resume its operations against the Houthis. Trump’s war against Iran, now in its seventh month, has heavily taxed US naval forces, depleted critical munitions stockpiles and sent petrol prices soaring ahead of midterm elections.
“The United States is focused on protecting our core national security interests — such as ensuring freedom of navigation in the Red Sea — while empowering our regional partners to take the lead in managing and resolving regional security challenges,” a senior administration official said on Friday.
The Houthis’ lightning offensive comes as the group has stepped up attacks on Saudi Arabia’s energy infrastructure and reignited Yemen’s long-running civil war.
The rebels have launched waves of missiles and drones at Saudi Arabia’s energy facilities and a military base in the kingdom this week, wounding more than 70 people and causing damage to oil sites.
Riyadh has launched more than 100 air strikes on Yemeni provinces under the rebels’ control, including at least two attacks on Mocha airport on Thursday, Houthi-controlled media reported.
The kingdom has used a pipeline from its oil-rich east to the Red Sea coast to export crude since traffic through the Strait of Hormuz was disrupted. But its oil production fell to 6.2mn barrels a day in August, its lowest level this year, according to a report Opec published on Thursday.
An energy ministry official told the Saudi state news agency on Friday that the pipeline was shut down as a “precautionary measure” after being subjected to “multiple attacks” on Thursday. The official said the attacks resulted in a “number of injuries” but gave no details about the extent of any damage.
The Saudi foreign ministry later on Friday said the pipeline had been hit by drones from Iraq but that the kingdom would not retaliate “at this stage” after a request from the Iraqi prime minister.
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Riyadh intervened in Yemen’s civil war in 2015 to lead an Arab coalition to fight the Houthis after they seized the Yemeni capital Sana’a, ousted the internationally recognised government and advanced south.
The war had been largely dormant since the warring parties agreed a ceasefire in 2022, but the Houthis, who control much of Yemen’s populous north, reignited the hostilities in July by declaring an embargo on Saudi Arabia’s ports and attacking its tankers.
Riyadh has for months been arming and training factions aligned to the Yemeni government. But disparate groups often have competing interests and have been unable to stem the Houthi advance.
The kingdom has a mutual defence pact with Pakistan and Turkey, but it is unclear if they would intervene to support Riyadh.
Sajjad Haider Khan, Pakistan’s foreign ministry spokesperson, on Thursday said “there is no such thing under discussion right now” but cautioned that “when the time comes [Pakistan] will act under the agreement”.
The Houthis last controlled the area around the Bab al-Mandeb in 2015, but the Saudi Arabia-led coalition drove them back to the Red Sea port of Hodeida. Riyadh was at the time supported by the United Arab Emirates, its main partner in the coalition, and which armed and trained Yemeni factions to fight the Houthis.
But the UAE pulled out its remaining troops in January after Riyadh accused Abu Dhabi of backing an offensive by a southern Yemeni secessionist movement in provinces bordering Saudi Arabia.
Riyadh had bombed a UAE weapons shipment at a Yemeni port as a simmering rift between the two traditional allies escalated.
The Houthis had also acquired more advanced weaponry and become more organised over the past decade, said Nagi, the Crisis Group analyst.
“And the other side is facing a lot of difficulties, the leadership is not united, there’s a gap between the command channels between the Saudis and the Yemeni government side,” he added. “The Yemeni forces are sort of psychologically defeated, so they didn’t stand and fight.”
Additional reporting by Humza Jilani in Islamabad. Cartography by Aditi Bhandari, David Hindley and May Bancoyo.
