US Maintains Direct Contact with Houthi Rebels After Perim Island Takeover

WASHINGTON, September 14. /TASS/. The United States administration is maintaining direct contacts with the Yemeni rebel Houthi movement Ansar Allah after its forces took control of the strategic Perim Island in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, US Vice President JD Vance said, responding to reporters’ questions about the situation in the strait at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington.

"We’ve been in constant contact with [representatives of] the Emiratis and the Saudis and others <…> in the region," Vance noted. "So it’s something the United States administration is very much on top of. We’ve also been engaged in direct conversation with the Houthis themselves. So we actually feel like we are on top of the situation, it’s a very fluid and dynamic thing. We want to keep on monitoring it."

Earlier, Yemeni government forces withdrew from Perim while the Houthis took the city of Dhubab on the Red Sea coast, which is located across from the island. The government announced the deployment of weapons and aircraft to prevent Houthi movements in important areas, including the road to the coastal city of Mokha, which the Houthis had taken the day before.

The situation in Yemen escalated sharply in early September when the rebel movement launched an offensive in the country’s southwest. At the same time, it began carrying out missile and drone strikes on Red Sea coastal areas and the outskirts of the city of Taiz, seeking to sever access routes to the port of Mocha and advance toward areas along the strategic Bab-el-Mandeb Strait.