Yemen: Houthis seize more Red Sea islands, tighten grip on key shipping route

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have captured the strategic islands of Greater Hanish and Lesser Hanish in the southern Red Sea, Yemeni government and Houthi officials said on Monday, expanding their control around a crucial maritime shipping route.

The capture is the latest in a rapid Houthi advance around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a key chokepoint connecting the Red Sea with the open ocean.

The waterway has gained further importance during the war involving Iran and the United States because it provides an alternative route to the Strait of Hormuz, through which much of Saudi Arabia’s oil shipments and trade with Asian markets pass.

The Houthi advance comes after more than a month of attacks on Saudi oil infrastructure and shipping in the Red Sea. The attacks have added pressure to global oil prices and increased Iran’s leverage in the wider conflict.

Two Yemeni government officials and a Houthi official said the rebels deployed on the Hanish islands after hundreds of government-allied forces withdrew from the archipelago. The officials spoke anonymously because they were not authorised to speak to the media.

The Hanish islands lie about 160km north of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

The latest capture follows the Houthis’ seizure last week of the mainland port city of Mokha and the island of Mayun, which lies inside the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

The rebels’ advance has also brought them to within about 32km of the US military base in Djibouti, located on the opposite side of the strait.

Thousands flee fighting

The escalation has raised fears that Yemen could slide back into a full-scale civil war after a truce that had largely kept fighting subdued since 2022.

Alongside their advance on the Red Sea coast, the Houthis have launched an offensive farther inland, particularly in Taiz province, a longstanding battleground.

Yemen’s Human Rights Ministry said about 150 civilians had been killed in fighting since 3 September, including a pregnant woman who was killed in a village in Taiz on Saturday. More than 200 civilians have been wounded, it said.

Thousands of families have fled their homes in Taiz and neighbouring provinces over the past day, according to Khanzad Shah, acting head of Islamic Relief, which operates in the region.

“Many of them don't have enough food or water as they had to flee with whatever they could carry. In some areas, whole villages have reportedly emptied,” Shah said.

The United Nations has estimated that more than 80,000 people have been displaced over the past two weeks, including more than 2,000 who fled Yemen by boat to Djibouti.

The latest fighting threatens to revive a conflict that has killed more than 150,000 people over the past decade and pushed Yemen towards famine.

The Houthis have controlled northern Yemen, including the capital Sanaa, and much of the country’s western heartland since 2014. The internationally recognised government, backed by several militias, controls much of the south and east, including the key port of Aden.

The Hanish islands had previously been controlled by the United Arab Emirates and its southern Yemeni allies. The UAE dismantled its military infrastructure there after relations deteriorated with Saudi Arabia and the Yemeni government earlier this year.

Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia continue

Saudi authorities activated sirens on Sunday afternoon in the southern city of Abha and Khamis Mushait province, warning residents to take shelter from possible incoming attacks. Both areas near the Yemeni border have been targeted by the Houthis in recent weeks.

Houthi military spokesperson Brig Gen Yahya Saree said the rebels had fired dozens of missiles and drones at the King Khalid Air Base in Khamis Mushait, targeting hangars, radar installations and ammunition depots.

He did not specify when the attack took place. The Houthis have previously taken hours or days to claim responsibility for attacks.

Saudi Arabia did not immediately comment on the claim.

Saudi civil defence authorities said a projectile had landed in another area near the Yemeni border along the Red Sea, injuring two people and damaging a mosque and several buildings. They blamed the Houthis for the attack.

Saudi Arabia did not announce any new strikes against the rebels.

Government forces regroup

Yemen’s government said on Sunday that its forces had carried out airstrikes against Houthi positions in Mokha, the coastal town of Dhubab and other locations in Taiz province.

The Houthis reported attacks by Saudi-backed government forces in Taiz and artillery shelling in Saada province, a rebel stronghold along Yemen’s northern border with Saudi Arabia.

Sultan al-Arada, a member of Yemen’s presidential leadership council, described the collapse of government forces in Mokha and elsewhere along the western coast as “painful and regrettable”.

He said government forces were regrouping and would return to the fighting.

Presidential council chairman Rashad al-Alimi sought to downplay the recent defeats, describing them as “incidental”, according to comments published by state-run SABA news agency.

The government, he said, remained committed to “retrieving (state) institutions and ... reclaiming sovereignty over all national territories”.

However, civilians fleeing the Houthi advance told The Associated Press they had seen government forces withdrawing and urging residents to flee.