{"id":66718,"date":"2026-08-06T18:35:33","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T18:35:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/?p=66718"},"modified":"2026-08-06T18:47:32","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T18:47:32","slug":"tensions-in-the-bab-el-mandeb-strait-reached-a-boiling-point","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/tensions-in-the-bab-el-mandeb-strait-reached-a-boiling-point\/","title":{"rendered":"Tensions in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait Reached a Boiling Point"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"Middle East Monitoring Desk Islamabad<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

For months, the Houthis have been escalating their actions, going so far as to announce a maritime blockade against Saudi Arabia. As recently as July 29, they claimed to have targeted a Saudi oil tanker accused of “violating the naval blockade” in the Red Sea.<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

The Houthis have imposed a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea since \u2060last \u200bmonth in response to what \u200bthey described as a Saudi siege on Yemen, an allegation Riyadh \u200bhas denied.<\/p>\n

This is a lever of power that the Iranian-backed Yemeni movement has now mastered, utilizing missiles, drones, naval mines, and fast attack craft\u2014tools that allow it to exert influence over one of the world’s most strategic trade routes without possessing a conventional navy.<\/p>\n

The Houthis declared a formal naval blockade against Saudi Arabia on July 20, 2026, shifting their asymmetric campaign to target Red Sea energy corridors. By early August, the group claimed multiple missile and drone strikes on Saudi-linked oil tankers near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the northern port of Yanbu.<\/p>\n

Reuters reported that shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab-el-Mandeb strait, the key \u200bmaritime chokepoints in the Gulf, reduced significantly on \u200cWednesday from the previous day, shipping data showed.<\/p>\n

Just two vessels transited the Strait of Hormuz, including a Panama-flagged coal-laden \u200bcarrier entering the waterway and another commodity \u200bMarshall Islands-flagged vessel exiting, shipping data from \u2060Kpler showed, down from eight vessels a day \u200bearlier.\"\"<\/p>\n

(Houthi supporters demonstrate in Sanaa, Yemen, on July 17, 2026, against restrictions imposed by the Saudi-led coalition on Houthi-controlled areas\u2014restrictions the group describes as a blockade.)<\/em><\/p>\n

Roughly 130 to 140 ships would typically transit the \u200bwaterway before the\u00a0U.S.-Israeli war with Iran\u00a0began on February 28 and Iran responded by closing the strait.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the Bab el-Mandeb, \u200bonly one commodity vessel, a Bahamas-flagged dry bulk \u200bcarrier, crossed the strait on Wednesday, Kpler data showed, down \u200cfrom \u206020 the previous day.<\/p>\n

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said on Wednesday they had\u00a0launched a missile attack\u00a0on a Saudi oil tanker off the coast of the kingdom’s \u200bRed Sea port \u200bcity of \u2060Yanbu and another missile attack on a Saudi oil tanker in the Gulf \u200bof Aden.There was no confirmation from \u200bSaudi \u2060Arabia on either incident.<\/p>\n

At least 30 Yemeni government troops were killed in attacks on military camps in Yemen’s Marib and Hadramout provinces on \u200bThursday, government sources said, adding that the death toll could rise.<\/p>\n

The \u200cIran-aligned Houthis later claimed responsibility for missile and drone strikes targeting what they described as Saudi military deployments in the two provinces.<\/p>\n

The Houthis said they struck what \u200bthey described as Saudi troop concentrations in the Al Ruwayk, Al \u200bAbr and Al Thaniyah areas with ballistic missiles and drones. \u2060The group said hundreds of Saudi-aligned fighters were killed or wounded, and \u200bthat military camps, weapons depots and vehicles were destroyed.<\/p>\n

Pakistan urges UN Security Council to act unitedly to end prolonged conflict in Yemen<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n