Yemen’s Houthi rebels captured more strategic islands in the southern Red Sea, Yemeni government and Houthi officials said on Monday, strengthening their control of a major maritime shipping route.
The rebels deployed fighters on the islands of Greater Hanish and Lesser Hanish 160 kilometres (100 miles) north of Bab el-Mandeb Strait, according to two government officials and a Houthi official.
The Houthis took over the islands after hundreds of government-allied forces withdrew from the archipelago, said the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to journalists.
The capture of the islands came after the rebels last week seized the port city of Mokha and the island of Mayun, located inside the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, from Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces.
The conflict in Yemen intensified on Sunday, as government forces launched attacks against Houthi rebels along the Red Sea and Houthis fired into neighbouring Saudi Arabia, which supports Yemen’s government.
Meanwhile, the Yemeni government vowed to send more forces to the Red Sea coast and one official conceded a “painful” defeat when Houthis captured the port city of Mokha and an island on the Bab el-Mandeb, a crucial shipping alternative to the Strait of Hormuz.
The escalation — especially Houthi attacks on Saudi oil infrastructure and its shipping in the Red Sea — adds pressure on global oil supplies and prices, and that could give Iran leverage in its war with the United States.
As Yemen risks descending into another civil war, the United Nations estimated that more than 80,000 people in the impoverished country have been displaced by the fighting since the start of September.
