As the conflict between the USA and Iran flares up again arount the Strait of Hormuz, th vital marine passage through which most of the oil and petrolium products of the middle east must pass on the way to world markets, Yemeni Houthi militias (Ansar Allah,) have seized the strategic Red Sea port city of Mokha from Saudi-backed pro-government forces, military sources and witnesses say.
The Iran - aligned Houthi, who have taken control of most of Yemen's southern coast threatened that they would target vessels from Saudi Arabia, which has relied on the Red Sea for oil exports since the US and Israel's war with Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf also forced troops of the Saudi backed Yemeni government to withdraw from Perim island in the Bab al-Mandab Strait at the entrance to The Red Sea, effectively giving the Houthi forces control of the other main passage for Saudi oil..
Footage from the seized Bab el-Mandeb coast shows a Houthi fighter at Hisn Murad declaring “We don’t need missiles. We don’t need drones.” He says artillery along the Murad coast and on Perim will stop non-compliant vessels and “cut any and all shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb now,” and that the Houthis will dig in on Perim after seizing it.
Perim splits the strait at its narrowest point into two channels. The main shipping lane runs between Perim and the Djibouti coast, about 25 kilometers wide, and the smaller channel between Perim and the Yemeni mainland is under 3 kilometers. Yemen’s Houthis now hold the mainland shore and the island in the middle, putting both lanes inside the range of ground fire,
The strait is the southern gateway to a key shipping route that links Asia and Europe via the Red Sea and Suez canal. However the canal cannot accommodate the million ton supertankers which now move the bulk of middle east oil and gas to the industrial and commercial centres of South East Asia, Europe and The Americas.
Ansar Allah controls the most important Mayyun Island in the Middle of Bab el-Mandeb and Dhubab, a small coastal town in the Taiz Governorate of southwestern Yemen, after al-Mocha. Ansar Allah controls approximately 8.1 million barrels per day crossing Bab el-Mandeb, 8% of global LNG trade and 30% of global container traffic, according to the World Bank.
No Israeli or Saudi ships are being allowed through Bab el-Mandeb.
What makes this latest development more serious is the Houthis display an extremely high degree of organizational cohesion that is very rare in the Muslim world. The Houthis currently control a population of around 20 million in Yemen (the internationally recognised government is in exile in Saudi Arabia,) yet they are able to field an army of several hundred thousand to one million. This army is highly combat-effective. The soldiers are driven by religious conviction or in many cases fanaticism, and willpower
It has now been confirmed that the crucial 'Hormuz bypass' East-West oil pipeline through which the Saudis had been pumping iol from the fields on the Persian Gulf coast, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates across Saudi Arabia to ports on the Red Sea has been hit by Houthi artillery and is on fire at a point about 80km to 100km from town of Al Mesba'ah.
Amid speculation that the attack is another Houthi strike on Saudi Arabia's oil trade, CNN in a new Friday report cites two US officials who've given confirmation that the pipeline was struck by projectiles on late Thursday. These reports suggested the missiles which damaged the pipeline may have been launched from Iran.. According to the report:
An early analysis found that pump stations, which are located next to the pipeline itself, were hit, one of the US officials said. A satellite image taken Friday appears to show extensive fire damage at one pumping station, and an image of a different pumping station, taken Thursday, showed a small fire sending up plumes of thick, black smoke.
With the pipeline still burning it is impossible to estimate how repairs to the might take. Meanwhile the Strait of Hormuz, though not officially closed is carrying about ten per cent of its usual traffic levels.
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