Yemen govt warns Houthis plan to turn Bab Al-Mandab into ‘Red Sea’s Strait of Hormuz’
DUBAI: A Yemeni minister has warned the country’s Houthi rebels are plotting to seize land along the Bab Al-Mandab Strait, which would allow them to further threaten the vital shipping artery.
Three Houthi military sources and a spokesman for the Yemeni government forces battling them near the waterway also told AFP the rebels are planning to advance south from their current territory.
Such an assault, if successful, could 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 in 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.
