The Houthis have completed one of the most important military advances in recent years in Yemen. After taking the port of Mocha and reaching Dhubab, the Iranian-backed rebels also captured Mayyun, known as Perim, and the islands of Greater and Lesser Hanish. In fact, the forces of the internationally recognized Yemeni government no longer control significant positions along the country’s western coast.
“Everything that was under our control on the West Coast has fallen,” he admitted to theAfp a military official from Saudi Arabia’s allied government. This is not just a new chapter in the Yemeni civil war. The conquest brings the Houthis into an unprecedented position on the Bab el-Mandeb, the strait that connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and then the Mediterranean, via the Suez Canal, to the Indian Ocean.
The result is particularly delicate because it comes while on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula the war with Iran has already heavily compromised traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. The risk is that the two major energy bottlenecks in the region will be under pressure at the same time.
Why Perim Island is so important
The decisive point of the offensive is the conquest of Mayyun-Perim. It is a small volcanic island that is located practically in the center of Bab el-Mandeb and divides the strait into two channels. Reuters confirmed the capture of the island and Dhubab, the Yemeni town that directly overlooks the sea passage. Possession of the two positions gives the Houthis a much greater ability to surveil and especially threaten ships passing through the strait. To this is now added the conquest of the Hanish and Zuqar, further north. The Financial Times describes the offensive as completing Houthi control of Yemen’s entire Red Sea coast.
Key Takeaway: The Houthis’ coastal plain offensive accomplished significant Houthi operational and strategic objectives that weaken the ROYG’s ability to disrupt Houthi operations and exert both short-term leverage over Saudi Arabia and possible long-term leverage over the… https://t.co/x8uNbShMiQ pic.twitter.com/4VgtkZKQir
— Institute for the Study of War (@TheStudyofWar) September 11, 2026
The Houthis have territory, coasts and islands from which they can observe and target naval traffic from a much closer range.
Much more oil passes through Bab el-Mandeb than a year ago
The economic importance of the strait grew enormously during the Gulf crisis. According to the latest data fromEnergy information administration American, in the second quarter of 2026 an average of 8.1 million barrels per day of crude oil and petroleum products passed through Bab el-Mandeb. In the first quarter of 2025 there were just 3.9 million. Energy traffic through the strait has therefore more than doubled in just over a year.
Bab el-Mandeb is the southern gateway to the Red Sea. An oil tanker passing through it can continue north, reach Suez and quickly arrive in Europe. If that route becomes too dangerous, ships must circumnavigate Africa via the Cape of Good Hope, extending the journey by thousands of kilometers. This means more fuel consumed, more days of navigation, less availability of ships and above all much more expensive insurance.
The problem for Saudi Arabia
The Houthi takeover also comes at the worst possible time for Riyadh. With traffic through Hormuz drastically reduced, Saudi Arabia can move some of the oil extracted in the country’s east to the west coast via the large East-West pipeline, then export it from the Yanbu terminal on the Red Sea.
But those tankers must then head south and cross Bab el-Mandeb if they are destined for Asian markets. It is therefore a sort of geographical pincer: Iran puts pressure on Hormuz in the east, while the Houthis can threaten Bab el-Mandeb in the west.
There is no need to close the strait to make prices rise
This is probably the most important point. The Houthis do not necessarily have to physically block Bab el-Mandeb to have an effect on the world economy. It just needs to increase the risk enough. Shipping companies may decide to avoid the area; insurers can increase war premiums; shipowners can demand higher rates and some of the oil tankers and container ships can be rerouted around Africa.
This is what had already happened during the previous Houthi campaign against ships in the Red Sea. Now, however, the group’s military position is much more favorable: it not only has missiles and drones launched from inside Yemen, but controls the coast and several islands directly close to the trade routes.
The double bottleneck that worries the markets
The real novelty is therefore the contemporaneity of the two crises. Hormuz remains the main oil chokepoint on the planet: in 2025 more than 20 million barrels per day passed through it. Bab el-Mandeb was much less important, but in 2026 flows rose rapidly to 8.1 million barrels per day recorded in the second quarter.
If both routes simultaneously became unsafe, a significant part of the world’s energy system would lose both the main exit from the Persian Gulf and a major alternative route through the Red Sea.
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The new advance of the Houthis also highlights Saudi Arabia’s difficulties. Second AxiosCrown Prince Mohammed bin Salman reportedly called Donald Trump twice demanding direct US military intervention against Yemeni militias, as Riyadh-backed forces lost ground along the Red Sea coast. However, Trump would have refused to order American raids, despite the worsening of the situation and the Houthi attacks which have also hit Saudi energy infrastructure in recent weeks. Washington will however continue to provide intelligence and data for the identification of targets, while around 200 US soldiers are already present in the kingdom with non-combatant support tasks. The White House’s line, according to sources cited by Axios, is to avoid opening a new front and concentrate American forces on Iran and the Strait of Hormuz.
But what will change now
Meanwhile, satellite images showed a column of smoke along the path of the East-West Pipeline, the pipeline that brings crude oil from the eastern fields to the port of Yanbu on the Red Sea.
💥🔥Satellite imagery from Sep 9 confirms at least three oil storage tanks were destroyed in Jazan, Saudi Arabia, following reported Houthi attacks. View before and after the recent attack.
Explore and Compare: https://t.co/DI5Zh2QHKY#SaudiArabia #Jazan #Houthi pic.twitter.com/eNAuCLANUz
— Soar (@SoarAtlas) September 11, 2026
With Hormuz already heavily affected by the war, an interruption of flows to Yanbu would further restrict Saudi export possibilities. The risk is therefore a new rise in oil prices, already above 100 dollars in recent sessions. As a result, the risk of a global energy shock would increase, with particularly serious effects for Europe and Asia.