Houthis capture Red Sea coastline, threatening vital shipping route

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis reached the strategic island of Perim in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on Friday, four Yemeni government sources told Reuters, moving to tighten their grip on a vital global shipping route in the widening Middle East war.
Earlier, two sources from the Saudi-backed, internationally recognised Yemeni government said its forces had pulled out of Perim and that the Houthis had also taken the mainland Red Sea coastal town of Dhubab, which faces the island.
If the Houthis gain control of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which is on the opposite side of the Arabian Peninsula from the Strait of Hormuz, it could give their backer Iran a critical advantage in its war with the US, reducing supplies through a second major transit corridor and sending oil prices surging. Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, has relied on the Red Sea route since the Iran conflict effectively closed Hormuz, through which a fifth of global oil used to flow.

Houthis also seize last two Bab al-Mandab islands
Houthis on the day also seized Greater and Lesser Hanish, the last two islands that were not under their control in the Bab al-Mandab strait, a military official in the internationally recognised government told AFP.
“Everything that was under our control on the western coast has fallen,” the official said.
Houthis say navigation 'safe' for all except Saudi Arabia
The Houthi military spokesman said on Friday that navigation through the Bab al-Mandab strait is “safe” for all but Saudi Arabia.
“Maritime navigation is safe for all companies except Saudi ships, which have already been banned,” Yahya Saree said in a statement.

Smoke seen above Saudi east-west oil pipeline
In a further potentially significant development for Riyadh, satellite imagery showed smoke on Thursday in the vicinity of Saudi Arabia’s East-West oil pipeline, which has become a vital means for the kingdom to divert its crude exports from Hormuz.
There was no confirmation from Saudi Arabia of any incident in the area. The Saudi government media office and state oil giant Aramco did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the smoke visible in the imagery verified by Reuters.

Yemeni government forces plot counter-offensive
Yemeni government forces indicated they would try to retake areas captured by the Houthi militants in their lightning offensive this week along the Red Sea coastline.
They announced they would deploy weapons and aircraft to eliminate any movement of the “terrorist” Houthi militias in strategic areas, including the road leading to the coastal city of Mocha, which the militant group captured on Thursday along with the Red Sea islands of Hanish.
Military spokesman Colonel Majed al-Nazili called on civilians to avoid using the route between the city of Taiz and Mocha and steer clear of equipment belonging to the Houthis, mountain fighters who withstood years of devastating Saudi air strikes during Yemen’s civil war.

Trump rejects Saudi calls to bomb Houthis
Saudi Arabia has been bombing Houthi targets in Yemen but not the strategic areas the group has seized this week.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman called US President Donald Trump twice on Thursday and urged him to launch strikes against the Houthis, Axios reported, citing two US officials.
Trump rejected the request, and US officials said the administration does not intend to take direct military action against the Houthis at this time, the report said.

Hormuz traffic falls to single digits
Vessel transits at the Strait of Hormuz fell to seven on Thursday from 11 the previous day, preliminary ship-tracking data showed on Friday, well below the 10-day average of 15.
Five vessels entered the strait, including a Panamax vessel carrying dry bulk cargo, a Handysize vessel laden with steel, a Handysize vessel carrying grains, a medium-range tanker loaded with dirty petroleum products, and a Supramax vessel carrying dry bulk cargo.
The figures exclude any vessels that might have crossed the strait with their Automatic Identification System transponders turned off to avoid detection.

Iran, Saudi discuss regional ‘insecurity’
The top diplomats of Iran and Saudi Arabia spoke by phone to discuss “growing insecurity” in the region, Tehran said, without mentioning recent fighting in Yemen, where the two countries support opposing sides.
Tehran militarily and financially backs Yemen’s Houthis, who for years have held large parts of the country’s north and on Thursday seized the strategic Red Sea port city of Mocha.
Riyadh has long supported Yemen’s internationally recognised government, and has been carrying out airstrikes on the Houthis since they began their advance, the group has said.
Saudi Arabia and Iran have also found themselves at odds during the wider Middle East war, which saw Tehran launch strikes on Saudi oil infrastructure and US-linked targets in the Gulf kingdom.