Iran-aligned Houthi forces are advancing towards strategic areas on Yemen’s Red Sea coast, bringing the armed group closer to a shipping chokepoint separating the country from Djibouti and Eritrea.
Four Yemeni government military sources told Reuters on Thursday that Houthi fighters were closing in on Mocha and Dhubab, two coastal areas located near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
The advance could give the group greater control over Yemen’s Red Sea coastline and increase its ability to threaten vessels travelling between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.
Bab el-Mandeb sits between Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula and Djibouti and Eritrea in the Horn of Africa. It links the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea and ultimately Egypt’s Suez Canal.
Approximately 12% of global trade and as many as seven million barrels of oil daily normally pass through the waterway, according to the Associated Press.
