Yemen’s Houthis have launched a major ground assault around the Bab al-Mandab Strait, the Red Sea chokepoint that has become vital for Saudi oil exports during the Middle East war.
With hundreds dead in fighting, and the Houthis exchanging strikes and counter-strikes with Saudi Arabia, AFP examines the flashpoint waterway that is normally one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.
‘Gate of Tears’
Known as the “Gate of Tears” in Arabic because of its history of shipwrecks, the strait sits at the southern tip of the Red Sea, connecting it with the Gulf of Aden in the Indian Ocean.
About 100 kilometres (62 miles) long and just 30 kilometres (18 miles) wide at its narrowest point, it separates Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula from Djibouti and Eritrea on the Horn of Africa.
Strategic trade route
With the Red Sea linking maritime trade between Europe and Asia, the strait is usually one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.
Oil tankers and cargo ships use it to reach the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal, shortening journeys between Asia and Europe and North America by thousands of kilometres (miles).
In 2024, as the Houthis attacked Red Sea shipping during the Gaza war, Suez Canal traffic fell sharply and has yet to recover, according to IMF PortWatch data analysed by AFP.
Total transits dropped from 26,895 vessels in 2023, or 73.7 per day, to 14,498 in 2024 and 14,070 in 2025.
The Houthis, claiming to act in solidarity with the Palestinians, were attacking ships that they said had links to Israel.
Average transits for January-August 2026 stood at 40.8 vessels per day, still a little more than half the pre-crisis level.
The Houthis do not control the coastal areas bordering Bab al-Mandab, but they hold the large port city of Hodeida further north. On Monday, a Yemeni military source told AFP they had seized the coastal city of Mokha.
Since declaring a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia in July, the Houthis have repeatedly attacked Saudi ships in the Red Sea.
They have denied that they seek to follow Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, the mouth of the energy-rich Gulf, by trying to close the Bab al-Mandab or impose transit fees.
Analysis by the Institute for the Study of War said the Houthis are “attacking Saudi Arabia’s ability to export oil in order to try to raise Saudi political and economic costs to an untenable level”, forcing Riyadh to halt military operations.
Oil exports at risk
Even before the Middle East war, the Bab al-Mandab was a major route for oil shipments, with the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) saying 12% of world oil shipments transited in 2023.
Although Houthi attacks during the Gaza conflict cut ship numbers dramatically, Iran’s closure of Hormuz turned the Bab al-Mandab into a vital alternative route.
Saudi crude shipments from the Red Sea port of Yanbu surged after the war began, averaging around 3.8 million barrels per day between March and July — about five times their pre-war level — commodities data firm Kpler estimated.
On a daily basis, that was equivalent to about 4.5% of the crude oil processed by refineries worldwide in 2025.
But shipments fell sharply to 1.5 million barrels per day in August, after the Houthis resumed attacks on Saudi shipping in the Red Sea in July.
Preliminary Kpler data put exports at 2.44 million barrels per day in the first nine days of September, although that figure remains subject to revision.
Andreas Krieg, a security expert at King’s College London, said the “biggest danger is not necessarily physical closure of Bab al-Mandab but persistent uncertainty”.
“I would expect prolonged instability to suppress traffic through Suez and impose significant costs on Egypt, while adding time and expense to Europe-Asia trade,” he added.
Yemen’s conflict returns
The Middle East war erupted on February 28 when the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran, prompting Tehran to retaliate with strikes across the region.
Then, in July, the Houthis triggered a return to hostilities in Yemen when they let an Iranian plane land in defiance of Saudi control of Yemeni airspace.
The Saudi-backed government retaliated by striking the airport, with ensuing exchanges unravelling a 2022 truce in Yemen’s long-running civil war.
Since then, the Houthis have declared a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia, attacking its tankers and its territory.
Now, as the group edges closer to the Bab al-Mandab, Iran and its allied groups are increasing their capacity to choke Gulf oil exports.
Kreig said Houthi gains over the Bab al-Mandab would give them “extraordinary strategic leverage”.
“Controlling the coast would strengthen Houthi maritime coercion, but the ability to impose risk on shipping already exists without territorial control of the strait,” he added.
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