Yemen’s Houthis seize island that controls key Red Sea strait

Yemen’s Houthi movement seized Perim Island, at the narrowest point of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, on September 11, 2026, after Yemeni government forces withdrew from the island a day earlier.

Four Yemeni government sources told Reuters that Houthi fighters reached the island, also known as Mayyun, tightening the group’s grip on one of the world’s most important shipping routes. A local government official told AFP that the Houthis had effectively completed their takeover of the strait itself.

Government forces also lost the mainland town of Dhubab, directly across from the island, Reuters reported. Witnesses told AFP that armed Houthi fighters were patrolling the shoreline in military vehicles after the island fell.

Perim splits Bab el-Mandeb into two shipping channels at the strait’s tightest point and has its own airstrip, making it a long-standing military prize that Saudi-backed forces had worked for years to keep out of Houthi hands. The island’s capture caps a week-long offensive that also took the Red Sea port city of Mocha and the Hanish islands on Thursday, with Houthi forces reportedly seizing Zuqar Island in the southern Red Sea as well.

The Houthis already controlled roughly a third of Yemen’s territory before this week’s advance and have spent years firing missiles and drones at ships passing through Bab el-Mandeb. Combined with Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz since a U.S.-Israeli air campaign against Iran began roughly six months ago, full Houthi control of Bab el-Mandeb would put Iran-aligned forces astride both corridors that together carry more than a quarter of the world’s seaborne crude oil and petroleum trade. Close to a third of global container traffic moves through the Red Sea.

Saudi crude supply fell 2.3 million barrels a day in August to 6 million barrels a day, its lowest level in more than three decades, the International Energy Agency said Friday, pointing partly to Houthi-linked attacks on ships in the strait. Global oil prices were on track to close the week above $100 a barrel for the first time since mid-May.

Satellite imagery verified by Reuters showed smoke near Saudi Arabia’s East-West oil pipeline on Thursday, though Saudi authorities and state oil company Aramco did not confirm any incident there. The pipeline has become a critical route for Saudi Arabia to move crude to the Red Sea since the Hormuz closure.

Reuters reported that the advance came with direct guidance from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, according to Yemeni government, Iranian and regional sources, and that Iran urged the Houthis last week to escalate attacks on Saudi Arabia while promising more funding, weapons and senior officers. Iran has publicly denied directing the group, describing the Houthis as an ally but insisting they are “not a proxy.”

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman called President Trump twice on Thursday urging U.S. strikes against the Houthis, Axios reported, citing two U.S. officials. Trump rejected the request, and officials said Washington does not currently intend to take direct military action against the group, though it is stepping up support for Saudi Arabia. Separately, the Financial Times reported that Gulf and Iranian foreign ministers plan to meet Monday in Salalah, Oman, to try to work out a temporary arrangement for shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

Yemen’s government forces said they would deploy weapons and aircraft to retake captured territory, including the road to Mocha, and warned civilians to avoid traveling between Taiz and Mocha.