Iran-aligned Houthi forces have seized the strategically vital Perim Island at the entrance to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, potentially giving Tehran-backed fighters a powerful position over one of the world's key maritime chokepoints and threatening to further disrupt global shipping and energy supplies.
The Houthi capture of the island, also known as Mayun, comes as oil prices remain above $100 a barrel amid mounting concerns over the widening US-Iran war and disruption to shipping through the Gulf and Red Sea.
Four Yemeni government sources told Reuters that Houthi forces reached Perim on Friday after Saudi-backed government forces withdrew. Two other government sources said the Houthis had also captured the mainland Red Sea coastal town of Dhubab, which faces the island.
Brent crude was trading at around $104 a barrel on Friday, after surging more than 6% on Thursday to settle at $107.63, its highest level since May. US West Texas Intermediate was around $100 after closing the previous session at $102.48. The latest Houthi advance has added another potential source of supply and shipping disruption to an already highly volatile oil market.
The development is particularly significant because Perim sits directly in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the narrow waterway linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden. The route is the maritime gateway between the Indian Ocean and the Suez Canal, making it a critical link between Asian and European markets.
The Bab el-Mandeb is less important to global oil flows than the Strait of Hormuz, but its strategic importance has increased sharply since the escalation of the US-Iran conflict. With shipping through Hormuz severely disrupted, several shippers have relied on the Red Sea export infrastructure to move oil towards international markets.
A Houthi presence on Perim could therefore give the Iran-backed group the ability to threaten or monitor shipping passing through the chokepoint, raising the prospect of a second major maritime front in the regional conflict.
Mocha capture
The seizure of Perim follows the Houthi capture of the strategic Red Sea port of Mocha on Thursday, as the group rapidly advances along Yemen's western coastline.
Earlier, the city had been controlled by the National Resistance Forces, a Saudi-backed faction commanded by Tarik Saleh, a vice president in Yemen's internationally recognised government.
The Houthis had intensified their offensive against Mocha over the past month, including a major rocket attack on the port while commercial vessels were unloading. Port director Abdel Malek Al-Sharaabi said more than 25 Houthi rockets struck the sprawling harbour during the fighting.
Reports that the Houthis were moving towards Perim had already prompted warnings about the potential consequences for the Bab el-Mandeb.
In an interview earlier this month, Saleh warned that a Houthi seizure of Perim could give the group effective control over the strait. Removing them from the island, he said, would require a major international military effort involving naval forces.
Wider US-Iran confrontation
The Houthi advance comes against the backdrop of an increasingly direct confrontation between the United States and Iran.
Tehran has warned that it will intensify hostilities against Washington, while the US continues military operations against Iran and maintains a stringent naval blockade.
The renewed fighting in Yemen also ends a period of relative stalemate between Saudi-backed government forces and the Houthis, with the wider regional conflict providing fresh impetus for the Iran-aligned group to expand its control of Yemen's Red Sea coast.
US support for Saudi campaign
The US has also stepped up intelligence and targeting assistance to the Saudi campaign against the Houthis, according to CNN, although Washington has so far placed limits on its involvement.
US support does not currently include direct participation in strikes, aircraft refuelling or other operational assistance, according to sources cited by the broadcaster.
