Houthis seize Perim Island, completing control of the Bab el-Mandeb strait

Yemen's Houthi movement captured Perim Island, at the narrowest point of the Bab el-Mandeb strait, after government forces withdrew, capping a week-long offensive that also took the Red Sea port of Mocha and the Hanish and Zuqar islands. The strait links Asia to Europe via the Suez Canal, and the takeover gives an Iran-backed force the ability to threaten shipping there just as the Strait of Hormuz remains disrupted by the wider Iran war.

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