Houthis claim to have repelled advances at the Bab al-Mandab Strait

The Houthi militia in Yemen says it has stopped an advance near the strategically important Bab al-Mandab Strait. The militia said that several targets in neighboring Saudi Arabia were also attacked. These include the Ministry of Defense in Riyadh and the Ras Tanura oil refinery, the largest refinery in the Sunni kingdom. There was initially no statement from Saudi Arabia. The information cannot be independently verified.

The civil war in Yemen has flared up again in the wake of the Iran War. The Iran-backed Houthis have taken large parts of the western coast of the Red Sea in an offensive and have also advanced into other provinces. The government is trying to push back the rebels with the help of allied militias and Saudi Arabia.

The Houthis are now reporting that they have attacked enemy forces advancing from the south towards Bab al-Mandab with heavy weapons and ballistic missiles. The Shiite militia said there were numerous victims among the opponents. Several enemy military vehicles were also destroyed.

Important shipping route

An important shipping route runs through the Bab al-Mandab Strait from the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal to the Indian Ocean. It is the shortest sea route between Europe and Asia and is extremely important for world trade - especially for the export of Saudi Arabian oil to countries such as China, India and Japan. The situation on the Strait of Hormuz has further increased the importance of the route.

The Houthi militia repeatedly targets the Saudi Arabian oil industry. Now the Ras Tanura oil refinery is said to have been hit by a rebel rocket. The Houthis said the shelling caused a fire to break out on the refinery premises. The refinery is the largest in Saudi Arabia and is located west of the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf. It has a capacity of 555,000 barrels of oil per day and was temporarily closed at the start of the Iran War. The complex also includes a shipping terminal.

Almost all of Saudi Arabia's oil exports pass through two main ports: Ras Tanura on the Persian Gulf and Janbu on the Red Sea. Both ports have been attacked by Houthi militias in the past.

Despite the escalation in Yemen, oil prices fell slightly on Tuesday. The price for a barrel (159 liters) of North Sea Brent fell to $114.01. That was 1.47 percent less than the day before. The reason may be, among other things, hopes for diplomatic efforts in the region.

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian spoke with Qatar's Emir Tamim bin Hamad on the sidelines of an economic summit in Moscow, the government in Tehran announced. Previously, representatives from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey met with the Iranian leadership in Tehran on Monday. Initially, little was officially known about the contents of the surprising meeting.