The Iran-backed Houthis controlled Yemen's entire Red Sea coast on Saturday after capturing three strategic islands in a lightning offensive the previous day, cementing their hold on a vital shipping corridor linking Europe and Asia.The developments are likely to deepen the Middle East war's impact on international commerce as Saudi Arabia shut down an oil pipeline following attacks, and after months of Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
Following a week-long offensive that has killed hundreds, government officials said the Houthis seized the Yemeni side of the Bab al-Mandab Strait, the southern gateway to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal.
A local official with Yemen's Saudi-backed government said on Friday that the Houthis had "completed their takeover of the Bab al-Mandab area and Mayyun Island".
A government military official later reported the group had also seized Greater and Lesser Hanish, the last two islands in the narrow waterway not under their control, as well as all of the neighbouring Red Sea coastline.
"Everything that was under our control on the western coast has fallen," the military official added.
