Yemeni forces withdraw from Bab el-Mandeb Strait, leaving Iran-backed Houthis in control

Yemeni forces fighting for the internationally recognized Saudi-backed government withdrew from an area overlooking the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait, leaving the Iran-aligned Houthis in control. The retreat hands the Houthis greater leverage over the maritime chokepoint, creating a pressure point on global shipping while Iran disrupts traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

Yemeni forces fighting for the internationally recognized Saudi-backed government announced on Sunday that they were withdrawing from an area overlooking the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait, leaving the Iran-aligned Houthis in control. The government's retreat from the Bab el-Mandeb area hands the Houthis greater leverage over the maritime chokepoint, creating a potent pressure point on global shipping while Iran continues to disrupt traffic through the Strait of Hormuz on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula. This dual squeeze would further isolate Gulf oil producers from their main shipping routes. The Bab el-Mandeb Strait is one of the world's most important and busiest routes for global seaborne commodity and goods shipments, particularly from Asia to Europe via Egypt's Suez Canal. The southern Yemeni forces said they were redeploying toward Aden, where the government is based, as the Houthis increase pressure on the southern areas still under government control. Government forces launched a military campaign in October to recapture the strategic coastal areas from the militia, which had pushed south in September. The escalation in fighting, which broke a 2022 UN-brokered truce, became another volatile front in the wider US-Israeli war on Iran, as the Houthis continue to launch attacks on Saudi Arabia. Fighting is intensifying around the western region of Taiz, with humanitarian conditions worsening. The city, which hosts about half of the 300,000 people displaced across Yemen by the latest fighting, remains besieged.