Yemen's Houthi rebels have taken over the country's entire western coast and the strategic island of Perim, giving them unmatched control over the Bab Al Mandeb strait, the Red Sea's key entry and exit point, Yemeni officials told The National.
"They took it all," a Yemeni security official said. "All of the west has fallen, and Perim Island too. They have everything now."
A second security official confirmed the details and said the Iran-backed Houthis had also taken control of Zuqar, another strategic Red Sea island.
After taking control of the port city of Mokha on Thursday, the Houthis continued south on their offensive and seized Dhubab, the last major town on Yemen's western coast and one that directly overlooks the Bab Al Mandeb strait and Perim Island, also known as Mayyun.
The fighting comes during the biggest declared wave of US-Iran tit-for-tat attacks on Gulf shipping since the war began in late February.
The Houthis gaining control of the waterway on the opposite side of the Arabian Peninsula from the Strait of Hormuz could give Iran a critical advantage in the war with the US, reducing supplies through a second major transit corridor and sending oil prices surging.
Zuqar and Perim islands are vital for maritime security. Fighting around the western coast put them at the centre of the rebel offensive and the wider US-Iran war.
Perim, with an area of 13 square kilometres, lies in the Bab Al Mandeb strait, between Yemen’s mainland and Djibouti, dividing the strait into two channels. Its position gives whoever controls it an exceptional advantage to monitor vessels entering or leaving the Red Sea and those on the route towards the Suez Canal moving between Asia, the Gulf and Europe.
Zuqar lies in the Red Sea. Like Perim, it is a volcanic island, and covers about 130 sq km, sitting between mainland Yemen and Eritrea. It lies about 32km off Yemen’s west coast and 90km south-west of Hodeidah. The island was used by government forces to track shipping traffic, monitor movements by Houthi rebels and stop weapons smuggling in the Red Sea.
Iranian guidance
The lightning Houthi advance down Yemen's Red Sea coast came with direct guidance from Iran's Revolutionary Guards seeking to open a new front in Iran's war with the US, according to Yemeni government, Iranian and regional sources.
Iran told the Houthis last week to escalate their attacks on Saudi Arabia and promised more funding, weapons and senior officers to help them do so, two Iranian sources told The National.
Several senior Revolutionary Guards commanders had already travelled to Yemen to oversee and command Houthi attacks directed against Saudi Arabia after weeks of discussions over military strategy, a regional diplomat briefed by Tehran said.
A third Iranian source, an official, said Iran had held several meetings with allies including the Houthis and that the move on Mokha was a Houthi rather than Iranian decision.
Inside Yemen, five military sources from the Saudi-backed and internationally recognised government said the IRGC had directed the new Houthi campaign along the Red Sea coast.
Citing communications intercepts and the accounts of captured Houthi prisoners, the Yemeni military sources told Reuters they believed the Iranian effort was being directed by Abdolreza Shahlaei, a top IRGC commander.
