Houthis planning to seize vital Bab el-Mandeb Strait, Yemen government warns

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A Yemeni minister warned Tuesday that the country’s Houthi rebels are plotting to seize land along the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which would allow the group to further threaten the vital shipping artery.

Three Houthi military sources and a spokesman for Yemeni government forces bordering the waterway also told AFP the rebels are planning to advance.

Such an assault, if successful, would cement Houthi control over one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, which the Iran-backed rebels have disrupted with attacks on passing vessels since the Gaza war broke out after the Hamas massacre in southern Israel in October 2023.

It would also extend the hold of Tehran and its allies to a second vital waterway in the Middle East after Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz in its war with the United States.

Greater Houthi control of Bab el-Mandeb would choke off oil exports from Saudi Arabia, against which the rebels have announced a maritime blockade.

“The Houthi militia… is working to create the conditions for seizing control of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait by expanding its presence along the western coast and attempting to control strategic Yemeni islands in the Red Sea,” Yemen’s information minister Moammar al-Eryani told AFP.

He said there had been a military buildup by the Houthis and that their plans had been illustrated by “repeated targeting of ports, docks, civilian infrastructure, ships, and government naval capabilities.”

The Houthis currently do not control coastal areas directly on the strait, but they hold the key port city of Hodeida to the north and have repeatedly attacked ships in the Red Sea.

In recent weeks, the rebels have launched their deadliest attacks in years on Yemeni government forces.

They have also begun targeting Yemen’s port city of Mokha, which lies close to Bab el-Mandeb, as well as military sites near the strait and government-controlled islands in the Red Sea.

Major-General Sadeq Duwaid, a spokesman for the government-affiliated National Resistance Forces that control areas bordering the strait, told AFP that the rebels “are striving to secure a foothold in Bab el-Mandeb.”

“Through their continued attacks on Mokha and its port, the Houthi militia seeks to establish a presence along the shores of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and transform the area into a situation resembling that of the Strait of Hormuz,” he said.

Three Houthi military sources told AFP that the group was preparing to launch an operation to seize areas south of Hodeida.

They said around 2,000 fighters had been deployed to front lines along Yemen’s western coast in the provinces of Taiz and Hodeida, along with rocket launchers.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.