Houthi forces have taken control of the island of Mayun – also known as Perim – tightening their grip on the eastern coast of the Red Sea and giving the group a strategic foothold in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. The takeover was confirmed on Friday by a senior military official of Yemen’s internationally recognised government and a Houthi official, according to The news agency. Analysts say the seizure represents a significant military advance that, if the Houthis can consolidate, could reshape their conflict with Saudi-backed forces in Yemen while benefiting their backer Iran in its broader regional struggle.
Here is what we know about the island’s seizure, whether the Houthis can consolidate control and what it means for Yemen and beyond. Mayun Island is a 13sq km (five square mile) volcanic island in the heart of the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, the narrow southern corridor at the entrance to the Red Sea. In 2021, the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis said it had a presence on the island, after reports emerged of a UAE-linked airbase being built there.
The UAE ended its involvement in the Yemen conflict at the end of last year and withdrew troops, but the status of the airbase on Mayun Island is unclear. By controlling the island, which splits Bab al-Mandeb into two channels, the Houthis now have a physical outpost in the strait. The Bab al-Mandeb Strait is crucial to global shipping as it is the southern entrance to the Red Sea with the Suez Canal at its northern end.
The strait has become even more important to shipping since the closure of the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula by the US-Israel war on Iran in March. The Houthis also control the areas surrounding the strait, including the island of Hanish and the entire Red Sea coastline of Yemen, reported Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Yemen, Yousef Mawry, on Saturday. Houthi forces seized the port city of Mocha on Thursday.
Wolfgang Pusztai, a security, policy and defence analyst, said the Houthis’ advance and seizure of the whole of Yemen’s Red Sea coast means the group now “has the real capability to shut down any maritime traffic through Bab al-Mandeb if they want to”. That gives the rebel group a major advantage in its battle in Yemen against Saudi-backed government forces, their primary target. It also benefits the Houthis’ ally, Iran, in its conflict with the US by giving Tehran new leverage over another global chokepoint and making its own blockade of the Strait of Hormuz “even more efficient”, Pusztai told Al Jazeera.
Farea Al-Muslimi, a research fellow at Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa programme, said the development serves both the Houthis’ “domestic” aims as well as Iran’s negotiating position with the US and the world “on other files, not just Yemen”. The Houthis have said that general shipping in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandeb is safe from attacks, except for vessels linked to Saudi Arabia, which they will blockade. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group would continue what his statement called a “siege for siege” and “escalation for escalation” strategy against Saudi Arabia, which has blockaded Houthi-held areas of Yemen.
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