Houthis reach strategic island at mouth of vital shipping lane

Saudi Arabia relies on the Red Sea route since the Iran conflict effectively closed Hormuz
Bab el-Mandeb
Yemen’s Houthis on Friday reached the strategic island of Perim in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, four Yemeni ‌government sources told Reuters, potentially tightening their grip on one of the world’s vital shipping routes.
Earlier, two sources from the Saudi-backed, internationally recognised Yemeni government said its forces had withdrawn from Perim and that the Houthis had also taken the mainland Red Sea coastal town of Dhubab, which faces the island.
If the Houthis gain full control of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, on the opposite side of the Arabian Peninsula from the Strait of Hormuz, it could give Iran a critical advantage in the war with ​the US, reducing supplies through a second major transit corridor and sending oil prices surging.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, has relied on the Red Sea route since the Iran conflict effectively closed Hormuz, ​through which a fifth of global oil used to flow.

Smoke seen above Saudi East-West oil pipeline
In a further potentially significant development for Riyadh, satellite imagery showed smoke on Thursday in the vicinity of Saudi Arabia’s East-West oil pipeline, which has become a vital means for the kingdom to divert its crude exports from Hormuz.
There was no confirmation from Saudi Arabia osf any incident in the area. ​The Saudi government media office and state oil giant Aramco did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the smoke visible in the imagery verified by Reuters.
Aramco has used the East-West pipeline to ramp up crude flows ​from Saudi Arabia’s eastern coast to the Red Sea to its west after U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on Iran began six months ago, prompting Tehran to effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz.
Saudi crude supply fell 2.3 million barrels per day on the month in August to 6 million bpd, the lowest level in more than three decades, the International Energy Agency said on Friday, partly due to the targeting of ships transiting the Bab el-Mandeb Strait by groups linked to Yemen’s Houthis.
Global oil prices were on track to end ​the week above $100 a barrel for the first time since mid-May, though they were slightly lower on Friday after the Financial Times reported that foreign ministers in the Middle East were trying to work out a temporary deal ​to manage shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

Yemeni government forces plot counter-offensive
Yemeni government forces, meanwhile, indicated they would try to retake areas captured by the Houthis in their lightning offensive this week along the ‌Red Sea coastline.
They announced they would deploy weapons and aircraft to eliminate any movement of the “terrorist” Houthis in strategic areas, including the road leading to the coastal city of Mocha, which the group captured on Thursday along with the Red Sea islands of Hanish.
Military spokesman Colonel Majed al-Nazili called on civilians to avoid using the route between the city of Taiz and Mocha and steer clear of equipment belonging to the Houthis, mountain fighters who withstood years of devastating Saudi air strikes during Yemen’s civil war.
Fighting between the Houthis and the Yemeni government forces has intensified in recent days, with the Iran-aligned group shifting its focus to control over Yemen’s long coastline instead of just the north and ​the country’s most populous areas.
Reuters reported on Thursday that ​the dramatic Houthi advance down Yemen’s Red Sea coast this week came with direct guidance from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards seeking to open a new front in Tehran’s war with the US, according to Yemeni government, Iranian and regional sources.