By Ingrid "Shortwave" Frost
The Bab al-Mandeb Strait is one of the narrowest chokepoints in world shipping, and this week Yemen's Houthi movement tightened its grip on it. Houthi forces seized Mayun Island, a strategic outpost commanding the strait, according to Al Jazeera, cementing their control over a waterway that carries a significant share of global oil shipments.
The island's capture came alongside a sharp escalation on land. Houthi fighters said Sunday they struck a Saudi military base at Sharurah, in the kingdom's south, using drones and missiles. A Houthi military spokesman, Yahya Saree, said the attack targeted "weapons depots and command and control centres," according to a statement carried by the Guardian. Saudi authorities said a Houthi projectile wounded two people and damaged a mosque in the Jazan region. The Houthis, in turn, accused Saudi Arabia of launching 129 strikes over 48 hours, Al Jazeera reported — a figure that could not be independently verified.
The fighting has already displaced large numbers of Yemeni civilians. Al Jazeera reported that 1,400 Yemenis fled across the Red Sea to Djibouti within a single 24-hour span, arriving in the town of Obock as the Houthis tightened their hold on the strait.
Not every regional power wants this framed as a wider war. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, whose government backs the Houthis, told reporters Tehran is "not at war with Saudi Arabia," according to Al Jazeera — a claim offered without independent confirmation of what role, if any, Iran is playing in the fighting.
Separately, Iraq said it seized a drone-launching platform in Maysan province, near the Iranian border, which Saudi authorities traced as the source of a strike on a Saudi oil pipeline, Al Jazeera reported. Together, the episodes point to a conflict spreading beyond Yemen's borders, with consequences for oil markets and shipping that reach far past the Arabian Peninsula.
— Compiled from reporting by Al Jazeera and the Guardian.
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