Houthis Enter Mayyun Island and Take Control of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait

Agence France-Presse reported, citing a Yemeni official, that the Houthi militias had taken control of the Bab el-Mandeb area after deploying on the strategic island of Mayyun, located in the middle of the strait.

The government official said that “boats carrying Houthi fighters arrived on Mayyun Island after government forces withdrew from it yesterday.”

According to witnesses cited by the agency, the Houthi militias “are deployed along the Bab el-Mandeb coast and have military vehicles that they are using to move around the area.”

Reuters also reported on Friday, citing two Yemeni government sources, that Yemeni government forces had withdrawn from Perim Island, located in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

Control of the island and the coastal city of Dhubab, which lies directly opposite it and which the Houthis entered earlier on Friday, according to two sources, is considered crucial to controlling the strait.

The Bab el-Mandeb area includes four strategic islands that were controlled by the government: the Zoqor Islands, located near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the heart of the international shipping route between the coasts of Yemen and Eritrea, which the Houthis seized on Thursday; Mayyun Island, which they took control of on Friday; and the larger and smaller Hanish Islands.

Government military sources told Agence France-Presse that the Houthis were surrounding government forces on the larger and smaller Hanish Islands.

The Houthis seized the Red Sea city of Mokha on Thursday, enabling them to continue their advance toward the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which has served as a major maritime passage since Iran almost completely closed the Strait of Hormuz following the outbreak of war between Iran and the United States on February 28.