Houthis Claim Strike on Saudi Vessel Near Bab al-Mandab
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- Houthis claimed a Monday missile strike on a Saudi military ship and four escort vessels in the Red Sea, per spokesman Yahya Saree, who said the group would target Saudi forces "on land and at sea."
- Yemen's internationally recognized government countered that the targeted vessel was a commercial ship out of service since last year, docked at the port of Mokha.
- The attack occurred near the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a critical choke point for Asia-Europe trade via the Suez Canal, where Houthi bombardments have halted commercial operations at Mokha and severed aid lifelines.
- Saudi Arabia had shifted oil exports to the Red Sea as an alternative route after Iran effectively blocked the Strait of Hormuz following US and Israeli strikes on Iran in late February.
- A Houthi attack last week killed at least six people on a cargo vessel — the first-known Red Sea fatalities from Houthi fire since the start of the war with Iran.
- The renewed fighting threatens a 2022 UN-brokered truce; the Houthis seized Sanaa in 2014, prompting a Saudi-led coalition intervention in 2015 that began a decade-long war.
Why it matters: Six people died in last week's Houthi cargo vessel strike — the first Red Sea fatalities since the Iran war began — and Mokha's port operations have halted, cutting off aid lifelines. With Iran blocking the Strait of Hormuz and Saudi Arabia depending on the Red Sea as its alternative export route, the Houthis are now squeezing that replacement corridor at Bab al-Mandab.
Ask SkimNews
