Yemeni forces fighting for the internationally recognised government said 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 — who control much of the north, including the capital Sanaa and Yemen’s most populous areas — increase pressure on the southern areas still under government control.
“The Southern Armed Forces announce the implementation of a redeployment operation for its forces from Dhubab Airport and the Bab el-Mandeb area, west of Taiz Governorate,” the southern forces said in a statement.
“This step is taken based on the priority of securing the capital, Aden, and the neighbouring governorates, as well as strengthening the front lines and addressing existing threats.”
In response, Saudi Arabia struck Houthi targets in Yemen, a country mired in civil war since 2014, when the Houthis pushed the government south. Impoverished Yemen has been grappling with one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
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. Aid supplies are unable to enter, and civilians are unable to leave.
