Yemen’s Houthis reach strategic island at mouth of vital Bab el-Mandeb shipping lane

Yemen's Houthis reach strategic island at mouth of vital Bab el-Mandeb shipping lane.

Key points

• In a further potentially significant development for Riyadh, satellite imagery indicated smoke on Thursday in the vicinity of Saudi Arabia's East-West oil pipeline.
• The Houthis' military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, remarked on Telegram that maritime navigation remained safe for all shipping except Saudi vessels subject to a previously unveiled ban.
• Global oil rates were on track to end the week above $100 a barrel for the first time since mid-May.
• Yemeni administration forces indicated they would try to retake areas captured by the Houthi rebels in their lightning offensive this week along the Red Sea coastline.

Yemen's Houthis reach strategic island at mouth of vital Bab el-Mandeb shipping lane. Reuters Published September 11, 2026 Updated September 11, 2026 09: 21pm. Join our Whatsapp Channel. Add Dawn as a trusted source.

Yemen's Houthi rebels reached the strategic island of Perim in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on Friday, four Yemeni administration sources informed Reuters, moving to tighten their grip on a vital global shipping route in the widening Middle East war.

Earlier, two sources from the internationally recognised Yemeni administration stated its forces had pulled out of Perim and that the Houthis had additionally taken the mainland Red Sea coastal town of Dhubab. It faces the island.

If the Houthis gain control of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. It is on the opposite side of the Arabian Peninsula from the Strait of Hormuz, it could offer Iran a critical advantage in its war with the US, reducing supplies through a second major transit corridor and sending oil costs surging.

Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter and a close US ally, has relied on the Red Sea route since the Iran conflict effectively closed the Hormuz, through which a fifth of global oil applied to flow.

While US President Donald Trump has jacked up economic pressure on Tehran, in the wider war between Iran and the US, the two sides have carried out a wave of tit-for-tat attacks this week on shipping in the Gulf.

Diplomacy is largely stalled. Iran confirmed on Friday that its representatives and those of Iraq and the Gulf Arab states would meet in Oman on Monday to resume discussions on safe commercial shipping routes in the Strait of Hormuz. The Financial Times originally documented the planned gathering. Smoke seen above Saudi east-west oil pipeline.

In a further potentially significant development for Riyadh, satellite imagery indicated smoke on Thursday in the vicinity of Saudi Arabia's East-West oil pipeline. It has become a vital means for the kingdom to divert its crude exports from Hormuz.

There was no confirmation from Saudi Arabia of any incident in the area. The Saudi administration media office and state oil giant Aramco did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the smoke visible in the imagery verified by Reuters.

Aramco has applied the East-West pipeline to ramp up crude flows from Saudi Arabia's eastern coast to the Red Sea after US-Israeli airstrikes on Iran began six months ago, prompting Tehran to effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz.

Saudi crude supply fell 2.3 million barrels per day (bpd) in August to 6 million bpd – the lowest level in more than three decades – the International Energy Agency remarked on Friday, partly due to the targeting of ships transiting the Bab el-Mandeb Strait by groups linked to Yemen's Houthis.

Vessels recorded transiting the Strait of Hormuz fell to seven on Thursday from 11 the previous day, preliminary ship-tracking data indicated on Friday, well below the 10-day average of 10.

Notably, the Houthis' military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, remarked on Telegram that maritime navigation remained safe for all shipping except Saudi vessels subject to a previously unveiled ban.

"We will continue to enforce blockade for blockade and escalation for escalation until the aggression stops and the blockade on our people is lifted, " he remarked on Friday, referring to Saudi attacks on Yemen. Yemeni administration aims counter-offensive.

They confirmed they would deploy weapons and aircraft to eliminate any movement of the "terrorist" Houthi militias in strategic areas, including the road leading to the coastal city of Mokha. It the group captured on Thursday along with the Red Sea islands of Hanish.

Military spokesman Colonel Majed al-Nazili called on civilians to avoid using the route between the city of Taiz and Mokha and steer clear of equipment belonging to the Houthis, mountain fighters who withstood years of devastating Saudi airstrikes during Yemen's civil war.

While Iran describes the Houthis as an ally, it publicly denies giving them military direction, saying they are "not a proxy".

For now, yemen's Houthis reach strategic island at mouth of vital Bab el remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.