Houthis reach strategic island in key shipping route, threatening global trade chokepoint

Yemen’s Houthi forces have reached Perim Island, a volcanic outcrop sitting directly in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, one of the most consequential maritime chokepoints on Earth. Roughly 10-12% of all global seaborne trade passes through that narrow waterway connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. The island seizure came on September 11, just one day after Houthi militants captured the port city of Mokha from Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces. Government troops withdrew not only from Perim but also from the nearby coastal town of Dhubab, effectively ceding control of a stretch of coastline that sits roughly 70-80 kilometers from the strait itself. A rapid coastal advance Mokha’s fall on September 10 was the domino that set the rest in motion. Within 24 hours, their forces had reached Perim Island. The island, sometimes called Mayyun, splits the Bab al-Mandeb into two channels. Whoever holds it can monitor, and potentially threaten, every vessel transiting between Europe and Asia via the Suez Canal route. UN Envoy Hans Grundberg didn’t mince words on September 10, saying the situation is entering “a new and more dangerous phase.” That assessment came before the Perim Island adva...