ADEN, September 11 — Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement seized Perim Island in the middle of the Bab al-Mandab strait on Friday, completing a push to take control of the strategic Red Sea waterway, a local government official and eyewitnesses said.
Boats carrying armed Houthi fighters reached the island, also known as Mayyun, after government forces withdrew on Thursday, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The rocky volcanic island divides the narrowest point of the strait into two shipping lanes between Yemen and the Horn of Africa.
The capture capped a week-long offensive along Yemen’s western coast in which the Houthis took the Red Sea port city of Mocha on Thursday and the island of Zuqar, and reached the coastal town of Dhubab, directly opposite Perim. Government military sources said more than 2,000 government troops remained besieged on the nearby Hanish islands.
More than 500 people have been killed in the renewed fighting, most of them combatants but including dozens of civilians, and the International Organization for Migration said nearly 20,000 people have fled their homes. Residents who escaped Mocha described an atmosphere of panic, with some families robbed by gangs as they fled toward Aden.
The strait is a vital artery for Saudi oil exports, and its importance has grown since traffic through the Strait of Hormuz collapsed after the outbreak of war between Iran and the United States and Israel. Global oil prices were on track to end the week above $100 a barrel for the first time since mid-May.
The United Nations Security Council met Thursday to discuss the conflict, and the UN envoy for Yemen called on member states to help contain what could become a far more dangerous conflict. Saudi Arabia has carried out airstrikes on Houthi positions, while US officials have said Washington does not intend to take direct military action against the Houthis for now, keeping its forces focused on Iran and the Strait of Hormuz.