Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis took control of the Bab el-Mandeb strait on Friday, after capturing an island located in the middle of the crucial Red Sea waterway, a local government official and eyewitnesses said.
"Boats carrying armed Houthi fighters reached Mayyun Island after government forces withdrew from it yesterday," the official said, referring to a rocky volcanic island also known as Perim that divides the narrowest part of the strait into two shipping lanes.
"The Houthis have completed their takeover of the Bab el-Mandeb area and Mayyun Island, which is located in the middle of the strait," he added, speaking on condition of anonymity.
An eyewitness said gunmen were "deploying along the Bab el-Mandeb shore and are driving around in military vehicles."
Further reports emerged on Friday that the group also seized the town of Dhubab and the coastal village of Murad, meaning that all of Yemen's Red Sea coast was now under Houthi control in an 18-hour blitz.
Government military sources said that the Houthis have besieged government troops on the Hanish islands, following earlier reports that the Zuqar island — the largest of the three major islands in the Red Sea archipelago further north from Bab el-Mandeb — was already captured.
They said they were unsure about the status of their soldiers, who number more than 2,000, but believe the Houthis have ordered them to surrender.
A senior military official said that the besieged forces have appealed to authorities for "rescue, food and water, and the lifting of the siege, which would require air support".
On Thursday, Houthis captured the strategic port city of Mokha from government forces in a blitz offensive that also saw them taking control of Zuqar Island in the southern Red Sea "after rocket attacks and a ground assault carried out using boats transporting fighters," according to military sources.
By Thursday evening, multiple videos appeared online of Houthi fighters' apparent celebrations in Mokha and their seizure of considerable weapons and equipment left behind by government forces. Euronews could not verify the authenticity of the footage.
Another crisis on the horizon
The Houthis, who controlled about one-third of Yemen's territory prior to the offensive, have previously targeted shipping in the narrow waterway which links Asia to Europe via the Red Sea and Suez Canal.
Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb account for more than one quarter of seaborne crude oil and petroleum trade. Nearly one-third of the world's container traffic passes through the Red Sea alone.
The Houthis have also reportedly consulted with Tehran on imposing a safe passage toll through the strait over the summer, in an apparent plot to further strain global economies.
Yemen's internationally recognised government has repeatedly warned of Houthi plans for taking control of the waterway, whose name in Arabic means "Gate of Tears".
Yet a member of the Houthis' politburo on Friday sought to allay global fears for international shipping, stating the group posed "no danger" to Red Sea cargo routes.
"Freedom of navigation and international trade in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab are safe and orderly," Hazem al-Assad told the Al-Araby al-Jadeed news outlet. "There is no cause for international concern, as they face no danger from the Yemeni side."
The Houthis corrected this statement to say Saudi Arabia remains an exception.
"Maritime navigation is safe for all companies except Saudi ships, which have already been banned," Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said on Friday evening.
According to Senior Director at the Soufan Center Caroline Rose, the Houthi takeover of Perim Island and Yemen's coastline creates in a chokehold which fill force shipping operators to reconsider costlier alternatives, while also impacting the key infrastructure the region relies on, such as the Suez Canal.
"Instead of going through the Red Sea, Suez, then Europe, they now have to explore a much more onerous path through Asia, the Cape of Good Hope, the Atlantic, then to Europe," Rose told Euronews.
"This adds weeks, greater insurance requirements given the proliferation of drones and overall risk, cost, and personnel needs to the journey, something that will undoubtedly increase prices."
Houthis marching on
Formally known as Ansar Allah, the Houthis came to power in late 2014 after storming Sana'a and seizing the presidential palace and key military sites, forcing Yemen's government into exile.
The group is part of Tehran's so-called Axis of Resistance — a loose network of militant groups in several countries in the region including Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza and militias in Iraq, all backed, trained and equipped by the IRGC to varying degrees.
The group triggered a return to hostilities in Yemen's civil war in July, when they let an Iranian plane land in defiance of Saudi control of Yemeni airspace.
Riyadh retaliated by striking the airport, triggering the Houthis to declare a blockade on the kingdom targeting its oil trade in July.
The Houthis engaged in a large-scale offensive last week against government forces backed by Saudi Arabia, while also launching attacks on Saudi territory that left dozens wounded, leading Riyadh to respond with daily strikes on Houthi-held parts of Yemen.
Saudi Arabia, which earlier this week said it had always offered "opportunities for negotiation," also said it has the right to defend itself.
Houthi attacks on oil infrastructure and Saudi tankers have further contributed to a spike in oil prices, which surpassed $100 a barrel on Thursday.
A friend in need
Last month, Saudi Arabia signed a NATO-style mutual defence agreement with Turkey and nuclear-armed Pakistan in Mecca, but it seems unlikely either of the two would get involved.
On Tuesday, Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said Pakistan would "honour" the pact "in case there is a need".
Just one day later, the Pakistan foreign ministry said that the Mecca pact was a "defensive alliance focused on deterrence".
"There is no such thing under discussion right now. When the time comes, we will act under the agreement," spokesperson Sajjad Haider Khan told the press at the weekly media briefing.
In July, US President Donald Trump said Washington would respond against the Houthis if they attempted to block maritime traffic in the Red Sea, after weeks of US strikes from March 2025 — early in Trump's second term — hit a range of military and industrial targets.
However, Washington is reportedly reluctant to enter the fray at this time as it remains bogged down in its own war with Iran since February.
According to US outlets, Trump rejected a request from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for strikes on Houthi positions as they approached Mokha on Thursday. Riyadh and the White House are yet to comment on these reports.
Meanwhile in Brussels, the EU's External Action Service strongly condemned Houthi attacks earlier this week, calling for the group to "end all attacks inside and outside Yemen, including attacks against commercial shipping in the Red Sea" and respect UN resolutions.
Brussels had not publicly commented on the Houthis' seizure of Perim Island and the Bab al-Mandeb shoreline at the time of publication.
Operation Aspides, the 27-member bloc's defensive naval mission stationed in Djibouti has been tasked with protecting freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, but its current mandate does not cover offensive action against Houthi positions on land or on islands.
It is not clear at this time whether the group's lightning takeover of Bab el-Mandeb will expedite talks about expanding its mandate which EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told Euronews in mid-July were already under way.
"What is tricky about the Houthis is that they have proven resilient with on-and-off-again maritime campaigns and coalitions directed at degrading their offensive capabilities," Rose said.
"Neither the US nor the EU have revived former efforts to consolidate a concerted campaign around the Houthis’ recent expansion, though it’s possible in the next few months as the US seeks leverage with Iran," she added.
Tehran salutes 'resounding victory'
Tehran chimed in on Friday, calling for an end to Saudi Arabia's blockade of Yemen and the immediate resumption of talks, in its first public statement since the Houthi Red Sea offensive.
In a statement carried by the state-run IRNA news agency, Iran's foreign ministry said Yemen’s sovereignty must be respected, and its problems cannot be resolved through a blockade or military alliances.
Mohammad Mokhber, an adviser to Iranian Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, congratulated the Houthis on their "resounding victory" on Friday.
Meanwhile, reports have claimed that Iran's elite paramilitary IRGC has deployed dozens of advisors to aid the Houthis in their operations. Euronews could not independently verify the claims at this time.
A potential disruption to Bab el-Mandeb would work in Tehran's favour, as its blockade of Hormuz has put significant pressure on the world's energy markets, sparking a crisis that could worsen even further as the northern hemisphere approaches winter.
"The Houthi offensive to capture territory near the Bab al Mandeb advances Iranian objectives under the current regional campaign that Iran is waging against the United States and its allies," Washington-based think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said in its latest analysis on Friday.
"Iran has recently pursued the following lines of effort under this regional campaign: targeting US naval forces, attacking US forces across the region, (and) disrupting traffic through the Strait of Hormuz," it added.
"The Houthis and Iran may currently share a common objective in Houthi control over the Red Sea coastline, but the nature of their relationship means that the Houthis will independently determine their level of involvement in supporting other Iranian objectives."
The leader of Yemen's internationally recognised governing council on Thursday urged Arab and other nations to help it defend the country's coasts.
"The protection of Yemen's coasts and the restoration of state control over its territory, ports and waters is a joint Yemeni, Egyptian, Arab and international interest," Rashad al-Alimi, who heads Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council, said during a meeting with Egypt's ambassador.
The Houthi offensive has cost more than 500 lives and has displaced about 46,000 people, the UN migration agency said on Friday.
