Houthis seize Perim Island and Dhubab as Bab el-Mandeb crisis escalates

ADEN/DUBAI — Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi movement has seized the strategically important Perim Island and the mainland town of Dhubab at the southern entrance to the Red Sea, placing the group in a significantly stronger position around one of the world's most important maritime chokepoints.

Four Yemeni government sources told Reuters that Houthi forces had reached Perim on Friday, while Saudi-backed government forces had withdrawn from both the island and Dhubab. The advance follows the seizure of Mocha and other territory along Yemen's Red Sea coastline.

Perim sits inside the Bab el-Mandeb Strait between Yemen and the Horn of Africa. Commercial vessels moving between the Indian Ocean and the Suez Canal ordinarily pass through these waters, making the strait critically important for trade between Asia, Europe and the Mediterranean. The development has become even more consequential because shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, another major Gulf energy route, is already severely restricted.

The Houthi advance could therefore place greater pressure on Saudi Arabia and other Gulf producers that have increasingly depended on Red Sea routes to compensate for disruption in Hormuz. Reuters reported that Saudi crude output fell sharply in August, while global oil prices have returned above $100 a barrel amid fears that two major maritime corridors could be threatened simultaneously.

Yemeni government forces say they are preparing a counter-offensive. Reuters also reported, citing Yemeni government, regional and Iranian sources, that Iran's Revolutionary Guards had provided the Houthis with weapons, funding and tactical guidance. Tehran supports the group but denies exercising military control over it.

The humanitarian implications are serious as well. Renewed territorial fighting risks reopening fronts in a country already devastated by years of civil war, displacement and economic collapse.

The key point for Berean News is that this is now more than a Yemeni territorial battle. Control around Perim and Dhubab potentially affects global shipping, energy security and international inflation.

Status: URGENT — DEVELOPING