Iran’s Houthi allies capture strategic island on vital oil shipping route

Houthi fighters on a march to mobilise more fighters against Saudi-backed government troops, in Sana'a on Thursday. Photograph: Yahya Arhab/EPAView image in fullscreenHouthi fighters on a march to mobilise more fighters against Saudi-backed government troops, in Sana'a on Thursday. Photograph: Yahya Arhab/EPAYemenIran’s Houthi allies capture strategic island on vital oil shipping routeRampant Yemeni fighters take control of island in narrow point of Bab al-Mandab strait, which Saudi is relying on for oil exports

Yemen’s rampant Houthi forces have captured the strategic island of Perim in the Bab al-Mandab strait, expanding their control of the narrow waterway, one of the ​world’s vital shipping routes.

The Iran-aligned Houthis took control of the volcanic island after forces allied to the UN-backed, Aden-based government left in the latest of a dramatic series of reverses along Yemen’s west coast in recent days, including the loss of the port city of Mocha on Thursday.

Saudi Arabia, which supports and bankrolls the official Yemen government, mounted air raids on Houthi positions in Mocha on Friday.

The Bab al-Mandab strait links Asia to Europe via the Red Sea and Suez canal. Perim island, also known as Mayun, divides the waterway in two, close to its narrowest point. The United Arab Emirates, a former Saudi ally in the anti-Houthi coalition, had been building an airbase on the island before ending its active involvement in the conflict in January.

Saudi Arabia has increasingly relied on the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab to export its crude since Iran has been targeting vessels in the strait of Hormuz. About 12% of the world’s goods are typically shipped through the strait.

Saudi Arabia has now said it has shut down a crucial pipeline a day after it was attacked by drones, and Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels captured Perim.

It said it had shut its East-West pipeline as “a precautionary measure”, blaming the attack on several drones that came from Iraq. In a statement carried by the state-run Saudi Press Agency, the kingdom said it would not respond to the attack to give the Iraqi government “an opportunity to take the necessary measures”.

The pipeline, also known as the Petroline, runs for 1,201km (746 miles) from the Abqaiq oilfield in the kingdom’s east near Bahrain and Qatar, to the port city Yanbu at the Red Sea.

Built in the 1980s, it has played an important role in Saudi Arabia’s ability to export oil after the disruption of the strait of Hormuz during the Iran war.

Full Houthi control of shipping in the Bab al-Mandab strait, alongside Iranian control of the strait of Hormuz, would strengthen the chokeholds of anti-western forces over global energy shipments. Oil prices have risen to more than $100 a barrel as the fighting in Yemen has escalated.

Iran hailed the Houthi advances in an official statement on Friday, its first extended comment on the renewed fighting inside Yemen. Iran and the Houthis have been allied since the Houthis rose to power inside Yemen in 2014.