Iran-aligned Houthi forces have seized control of Mayyun Island, also known as Perim, along with the Yemeni coastal town of Mocha, consolidating their hold over the Bab el-Mandeb strait, one of the world’s most strategically vital shipping corridors.
The advance reportedly unfolded in a matter of hours early Friday, with fighters said to have reached Mocha at dawn on Thursday before pushing out to the offshore islands that guard the narrow waterway. Sources close to the situation say Houthi units have also taken up positions overlooking the strait from a camp near its edge, effectively giving the group oversight of vessel movement through the passage.
Bab el-Mandeb links the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea and serves as a critical alternative route to the Suez Canal and, further afield, to the Strait of Hormuz, through which a significant share of the world’s energy shipments has historically passed. Control of the strait by an armed non-state actor is being watched closely by global shipping and insurance firms, given the corridor’s importance to trade flowing between Asia, the Gulf and Europe.
The seizure comes against the backdrop of a wider regional conflict that has already rattled energy markets. Prices at the pump in the United States are said to have climbed past six dollars a gallon in recent days, while global crude prices have approached the symbolic $100-a-barrel mark for the first time in months, as traders price in the risk of further disruption.
A Houthi political official sought to downplay fears of an escalation, insisting that freedom of navigation through the Red Sea remained intact and that international shipping faced no immediate danger. Iran’s foreign ministry, for its part, called for an end to what it described as a blockade of Yemen by Saudi Arabia and urged a return to negotiations.
Regional and international shipping lines have not yet announced formal route changes, but maritime security analysts caution that any further escalation around the strait could force a repeat of the costly diversions around the Cape of Good Hope that disrupted global trade in years past. East African ports, including Kenya’s own maritime trade routes, could feel indirect effects should shipping costs and transit times rise as a result.