Houthis seize key Red Sea islands, tighten grip on shipping

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels captured strategic islands in the southern Red Sea, government and Houthi officials said, tightening the rebels’ grip on a major maritime shipping route. The seizure strengthens the Houthis’ hold around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a key passage for Saudi oil shipments that has grown more crucial during the Iran war as an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz.

The Houthis deployed on Greater and Lesser Hanish islands, 160 kilometers north of Bab el-Mandeb, after hundreds of government-allied forces withdrew from the archipelago, according to two government officials and a Houthi official. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to journalists.

Bab el-Mandeb, on the opposite side of the Arabian Peninsula from Hormuz, connects the Red Sea to the open ocean and to Saudi Arabia’s key Asian markets.

For more than a month, the Houthis have struck Saudi oil infrastructure and shipping in the Red Sea, stepping up pressure on global oil prices and boosting Iran’s leverage in its war with the United States.

The capture of the Hanish islands came after the rebels seized the port city of Mokha on the mainland nearby and the island of Mayun, inside the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The advance puts the Houthis 20 miles from the U.S. military base in Djibouti, on the other side of the strait.

The Hanish islands had been controlled by the United Arab Emirates and its southern allies in Yemen. The UAE dismantled its military infrastructure there after it fell out with Saudi Arabia and the Yemeni government earlier this year.

“Painful and regrettable” is how Sultan al-Arada, a member of the government’s presidential leadership council, described the collapse of government forces in Mokha, about 80 kilometers from Bab el-Mandeb, and elsewhere on Yemen’s west coast.

He said in a televised interview that forces “are currently regrouping and will return to the battle.”

Rashad al-Alimi, who leads the presidential council, sought to downplay the defeats as “incidental.” The government, he said, “will remain clear and fixed on the goal of retrieving (state) institutions and of reclaiming sovereignty over all national territories.”

People fleeing the Houthi advance told The Associated Press they saw forces withdrawing and urging people to run.

The fighting is pushing Yemen back into full-fledged civil war, after a truce that largely maintained quiet since 2022. The Houthis have waged an offensive inland, particularly in the longtime battleground province of Taiz.

Some 150 civilians have been killed in fighting since Sept. 3, including a pregnant woman killed Saturday in a village in Taiz, the government’s Human Rights Ministry said. More than 200 civilians have been wounded.

Khanzad Shah, acting head of Islamic Relief, said thousands of families have fled their homes in Taiz and nearby provinces in the past day.

“Many of them don’t have enough food or water as they had to flee with whatever they could carry. In some areas, whole villages have reportedly emptied,” he said.

The United Nations has estimated that more than 80,000 people have been displaced in the past two weeks, including over 2,000 people who fled by boat to Djibouti.

Since 2014, the Houthis have controlled the north, including the capital, Sanaa, and much of the western heartland of the country where most of the population is located. The internationally recognized government, backed by an array of disparate militias, controls the south and east, including the key southern port of Aden.

Saudi Arabia waged a destructive air campaign against the Houthis for years while backing the government and allied militias, but it has appeared reluctant to throw itself fully back into the war.

Saudi authorities sounded sirens Sunday afternoon in the southern city of Abha and Khamis Mushait province, warning residents to take shelter from potential incoming fire.

A rebel spokesman said the Houthis fired dozens of missiles and drones at the King Khalid Air Base in Khamis Mushait, targeting hangars, radar installations and ammunition depots. Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree did not specify when the attack took place, but the Houthis often take hours or days to claim responsibility for attacks.

There was no immediate comment from Saudi Arabia on the Houthi claim. The Saudi civil defense said overnight that a projectile fell in a different area near the border with Yemen along the Red Sea, injuring two people and damaging a mosque and several other buildings. The statement blamed the Houthis.

Saudi Arabia did not announce any new attacks targeting the Houthis.

On Sunday, the Yemeni government’s military said it launched airstrikes on Houthi positions in Mokha, the coastal town of Dhubab and elsewhere in Taiz province. The rebels reported strikes by the Saudi-backed forces in Taiz province and artillery shelling in Saada province, a Houthi stronghold on Yemen’s northern border with Saudi Arabia.