Iran-Backed Houthi Militants Capture Strategically Important Island In The Red Sea

Yemen’s Houthi movement took control of Perim Island, also known as Mayyun, in the Bab al-Mandab Strait over the weekend after forces aligned with Yemen’s internationally recognized government withdrew from the island. The seizure followed the group’s capture of the Red Sea port city of Mokha and a broader advance along Yemen’s western coast, which has spiked fears of additional disruption to global shipping.

Government and Houthi officials, as well as witnesses who spoke with the BBC, confirmed that Houthi fighters reached the island by boat.

Perim is a small volcanic island of about 13 square kilometers that sits inside the strait and divides it into two shipping channels near its narrowest point. It lies a few kilometers off Yemen’s southwestern coast, opposite the mainland town of Dhubab. Control of the island gives whoever holds it a position from which to observe vessels entering or leaving the Red Sea en route to or from the Suez Canal.

Reports from Yemeni government officials also said the Houthis took Greater and Lesser Hanish and Zuqar, islands that had remained outside their control in the southern Red Sea.

The Bab al-Mandab Strait links the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and is a principal southern gateway for traffic between Asia and Europe via Suez. Roughly 12 percent of global goods have typically passed through the waterway. Its importance increased after disruption of the Strait of Hormuz during the wider U.S.-Iran conflict, as Saudi Arabia and other exporters shifted more oil and other cargo onto Red Sea routes.

Analysts have said positions on Perim and nearby islands allow closer monitoring of traffic and, if used militarily, shorter-range attacks on vessels than positions farther north along the coast.

POLL: Is JD Vance A Better Vice President Than Mike Pence?

Houthi rebels have seized Perim, the small island at the southern entrance to the Red Sea. On its own, this is not a big deal.@TomSharpe134 explains why how they got it is more interesting and why it points to towards more disruption 👇https://t.co/OUNlLZ9F4E pic.twitter.com/MoEeao8iDr

— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) September 13, 2026

The island seizure capped a week-long coastal offensive that Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said began on 3 September in response to what the group called Saudi aggression. After years of holding much of northwestern Yemen, including the capital Sanaa and the port of Hodeidah, Houthi forces pushed south along the Tihama coastal plain. They took districts including Hays and al-Khawkhah in Hodeidah governorate, then Mokha on September 10.

Mokha had been the main Red Sea port still held by government-aligned National Resistance forces under Tareq Saleh. From there, Houthi units continued south to Dhubab and the islands facing the strait. A government military official told AFP that everything previously under government control on the western coast had fallen.

Houthi officials stated that navigation through Bab al-Mandab remained safe for commercial traffic other than Saudi vessels. Sarea said Saudi ships were already banned and that Saudi traffic could pass if Riyadh lifted what the Houthis describe as a blockade of Yemen. The group has conducted sustained attacks on Saudi shipping since July.

The offensive has heightened fears of additional threats to global shipping, however, as the Houthis have attempted to shut down the Red Sea in the past.

RELATED: Regime Forces Engaged In Intense Battle With ‘Unknown Gunmen’ In Southeastern Iran