Houthis Seize Perim Island, Control All of Bab el Mandeb

The price of a barrel of oil crossed $100 on Thursday for the first time since mid-May, and the reason lies on the coast of the Red Sea. Yemen’s Houthis seized Perim Island, also known as Mejun, in the Bab el Mandeb strait on Friday, September 11, taking control of the entire Yemeni Red Sea coast. For Serbia, which imports most of its oil and fuel, every jump in crude prices on world markets eventually shows up at the pump at home, so a narrow strait between Yemen and the Horn of Africa is being felt as far away as Belgrade.

An 18-Hour Offensive

According to a local Yemeni government official and witnesses on the ground, boats carrying armed Houthi fighters reached Mejun Island a day after government forces had abandoned it. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Euronews that “the Houthis have completed their takeover of the Bab el Mandeb area and Mejun Island, which sits in the middle of the strait.” A witness added that armed men “are deploying along the Bab el Mandeb coast and driving around in military vehicles.”

That same evening brought word that the Houthis had also taken the small town of Dubab and the coastal village of Murad. In an offensive that lasted 18 hours, the entire Yemeni Red Sea coast fell under their control. As Srpske Novine reported in the article “Houthis Seize Mokha, Oil Tops $100 a Barrel,” the Houthis had a day earlier, on Thursday, September 10, captured the port city of Mokha and Zuqar Island, the largest of the three main islands in the Red Sea archipelago north of Bab el Mandeb, following missile strikes and a seaborne landing.

More Than 2,000 Soldiers Encircled

Military sources within the Yemeni government said the Houthis have surrounded government troops on the Hanish Islands, where more than 2,000 soldiers remain. Their fate is unknown, though officials believe they have been ordered to surrender. According to one senior military official, the encircled forces have asked the authorities for “rescue, food and water, and a lifting of the siege,” which would require air support.

The United Nations migration agency said Friday that the offensive had by that day killed more than 500 people and displaced roughly 46,000, adding that the toll is rising by the hour. The agency called on all parties to the conflict to “guarantee safe humanitarian access and protect civilians, aid workers, and property on the ground.”

Oil Prices and a Pipeline Under Attack

Bab el Mandeb and the Strait of Hormuz together carry more than 25 percent of the world’s seaborne trade in crude oil and refined products, while close to a third of global container traffic passes through the Red Sea. Caroline Rose, a director at the Soufan Center, explained why the fall of Perim and the entire Yemeni coast is especially painful for shipping companies.

Instead of going through the Red Sea, the Suez Canal, and then on to Europe, they now have to look for a much harder route through Asia, around the Cape of Good Hope, and across the Atlantic to Europe. That adds weeks to the voyage, higher insurance costs because of the spread of drones, and greater overall risk, expense, and crewing needs, Rose told Euronews.

The crisis spread onshore on Friday as well. Saudi Arabia’s Energy Ministry confirmed that a series of drone attacks had halted operations on the East-West pipeline, a key alternative export route that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz. Riyadh said the drones had been launched from Iraq, adding that it would not retaliate for now, at the request of the Iraqi prime minister, but that it reserved the right to take all necessary measures to protect its sovereignty, security, and critical infrastructure. The Iraqi government dismissed a military commander on Saturday morning after an investigation confirmed that the latest drone attacks on Saudi Arabia had originated from Iraqi territory.

Who Says What About Shipping Safety

The Houthi political bureau has tried to calm fears over international trade. Hazem al-Asad, a member of the movement’s political bureau, said that “freedom of navigation and international trade in the Red Sea and Bab el Mandeb are safe and orderly.” Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree offered a sharper version of that message the same evening, saying that “maritime navigation is safe for all companies except Saudi vessels, which are already banned.” The gap between the two statements is not accidental: the political bureau is addressing the public about trade in general, while the military spokesman is openly reserving the right to target Saudi ships.

Trump Between Riyadh and Tehran

On the diplomatic front, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has, according to sources familiar with the discussions, pressed President Donald Trump in at least two conversations over the past 24 hours to launch airstrikes on the Houthis. Trump has so far resisted direct military action but has agreed to help Riyadh with targeting and intelligence sharing, according to a US official and a person familiar with the matter.

In July, Trump warned that Washington would respond if the Houthis tried to block shipping in the Red Sea, following weeks of American strikes that, since March 2025, at the start of his second term, hit a series of Houthi military and industrial targets. Even so, Washington is reportedly reluctant to get further involved now, since it is already tied up in its own war with Iran, which has been running since February.

Rashad al-Alimi, who chairs the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) of Yemen’s internationally recognized government, called on Thursday for Arab and other nations to help defend Yemen’s coastline. Speaking with Egypt’s ambassador, he said:

Protecting Yemen’s coasts and restoring state control over its territory, ports, and waters is a shared Yemeni, Egyptian, Arab, and international interest.

Iran Congratulates a “Decisive Victory”

Iran’s Foreign Ministry, in its first official reaction to the Houthi offensive, called on Friday for an end to the Saudi blockade of Yemen and for an urgent resumption of talks, arguing that Yemen’s problems cannot be solved through blockades or military alliances. Mohammad Mokhber, an adviser to Iranian cleric Mojtaba Khamenei, congratulated the Houthis on what he called a “decisive victory.” The Institute for the Study of War said the same day that the Houthi offensive serves Iranian goals within a broader regional campaign against the United States and its allies, while noting that the Houthis still decide independently how far they will go in backing specific Iranian interests.

Brussels Silent, Pakistan Cautious

The European External Action Service (EEAS) had, earlier that week, sharply condemned the Houthi attacks and called on the movement to halt all attacks inside and outside Yemen, including on commercial shipping in the Red Sea, and to comply with UN resolutions. As of this writing, Brussels had issued no official reaction to the fall of Perim and the entire Yemeni coast. Operation Aspides, the European Union’s 27-nation naval mission based in Djibouti, is tasked with protecting freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, but its current mandate does not cover offensive action against Houthi positions on land or on the islands. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told Euronews in mid-July that talks on expanding that mandate were already underway.

Saudi Arabia signed a mutual defense pact with Turkey and nuclear-armed Pakistan in Mecca last month, though it seems unlikely either country would actually join the fighting. Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said on Tuesday that Pakistan would “honor” the pact “if the need arises.” A day later, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry offered a different reading, describing the Mecca agreement as a “defensive alliance aimed at deterrence” with no action currently planned. Ministry spokesman Sajjad Hyder Khan told reporters at a weekly briefing that “this is not being considered at all at the moment” and that Islamabad “will act in accordance with the agreement” only when the time comes.

It remains unclear when the Yemeni government might launch a counteroffensive to retake the lost coastline, or whether the fall of Perim will speed up Brussels’ decision on expanding the Aspides mission’s mandate.