The China Mail - Yemen's Houthis take over strait vital to global shipping

The development is likely to deepen the Middle East war's impact on international commerce, months after the strategic Strait of Hormuz was blockaded by Iran, which hailed its Yemeni allies' advance on Friday.

After a week-long offensive that has left hundreds dead, the Houthis appeared to be in control of territory along the Yemeni side of the Bab al-Mandab Strait, the southern gateway to the Red Sea and, in turn, the Suez Canal.

A local official with Yemen's Saudi-backed government said on Friday that the Houthis had "completed their takeover of the Bab al-Mandab area and Mayyun Island", while a witness said gunmen were "deploying along the Bab al-Mandab shore and are driving around in military vehicles".

The capture of Mayyun island, in the middle of the narrow waterway, heightens the fighters' ability to attack Saudi tankers, which they have been targeting since July.

Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, has relied on the Red Sea ever since Iran's Hormuz blockade choked off its shipments via the Gulf.

Mohammad Mokhber, an adviser to Iranian supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, congratulated the Houthis on their "resounding victory" on Friday.

"Now the Iranians don't only control Hormuz and the Strait of Hormuz, but they control the other most strategic chokepoint in the Middle East," Farea Al-Muslimi, research fellow at the Chatham House think-tank, told AFP.

Oil prices have soared past $100 a barrel this week, while average US diesel prices topped $6 for the first time on Friday -- a potential headache for President Donald Trump ahead of midterm elections.

A member of the Houthis' politburo had sought to allay fears for global shipping in an interview released on Friday, insisting "there is no cause for international concern".

"Freedom of navigation and international trade in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab are safe and orderly," Hazem al-Assad told the Al-Araby al-Jadeed news outlet.

- 'Apocalyptic' atmosphere -

The Houthi offensive has cost more than 500 lives, and has displaced about 46,000 people, the UN migration agency said on Friday.

It is part of renewed hostilities in divided Yemen's brutal civil war that began with the group's takeover of the capital Sanaa in 2014.

The Houthis carried out their heaviest missile and drone attack in years this week against Saudi Arabia -- Yemen's northern neighbour -- setting oil sites ablaze and wounding 73.

Satellite images from Copernicus Sentinel Data taken on Thursday showed black smoke billowing near Medina, along the general route of the East-West pipeline that carries Saudi oil to its Red Sea coast.

Before the Red Sea offensive, the Houthis already controlled a large part of Yemen's north.

They have recently attacked government-held areas in Hodeida and Taiz provinces and swept down the coast, seizing the port city of Mocha and Zuqar island, north of the Bab al-Mandab, on Thursday.

Mohamed, 46, who fled Mocha in the middle of the night, told AFP there was an "apocalyptic" atmosphere in the historic city.

While Saudi Arabia has hit back with airstrikes and ordered troop reinforcements from Aden, where the internationally recognised government is based, it has failed to stop the Houthis' lightning advance.

Houthi media said two Saudi strikes hit Mocha's airport on Friday, while a local official there said the city's seaport was also hit by six missiles of unknown origin.

"I think the Saudis have tried everything they can to avoid this war, but I don't think they have any more choice," said Al-Muslimi.

- 'Dangerous conflict' -

The local Yemeni official said the number of fighters on Mayyun island, just 13 square kilometres (five square miles) was "not large", adding that they would probably deploy on hills overlooking the Bab al-Mandab.

The strait has four strategic islands: Zuqar and Mayyun, both in Houthi control, and the two Hanish islands. Government military sources told AFP that the Houthis have besieged government troops on the Hanish islands.

The UN Security Council met Thursday to discuss the conflict with Yemen envoy Hans Grundberg, who called for "the active investment of every member of this body to contain" what could become a more dangerous conflict.

The ongoing exchanges risk reviving a war that killed hundreds of thousands of Yemenis and sparked one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

The Houthis, after seizing Sanaa and forcing out the government, fought a Saudi-led coalition from 2015 until a United Nations-brokered ceasefire in 2022.

S.Davis--ThChM