Houthis Seize Bab al-Mandeb Strait, Threatening Global Shipping

Houthi forces have completed their takeover of Yemen's Red Sea coastline, capturing Mocha and the island of Mayyun and gaining effective control of the Bab al-Mandeb strait, a chokepoint for roughly 12 percent of global trade. The advance has triggered a refugee flow into Djibouti, renewed piracy off Somalia as naval focus shifts elsewhere, and fresh shipping caution alongside Iran's parallel leverage over the Strait of Hormuz. Two Iran-aligned forces now bracket major maritime chokepoints near Israel's region, a concrete indicator of how a widening Middle East conflict can reshape global trade routes and regional alliances well beyond Yemen's borders.