The UN Security Council is scheduled to meet Tuesday afternoon to discuss the situation in the Middle East, as the Houthis’ rapid advance along Yemen’s Red Sea coast raises fresh concerns over global shipping. The official UN agenda item does not mention Yemen or the Red Sea. But the meeting comes after the Iran-backed Houthis tightened their grip on the Bab el-Mandeb strait last week by seizing the Red Sea port of Mokha and Mayyun Island, also known as Perim.
Yemeni and Houthi officials say the group has also moved onto the Greater and Lesser Hanish islands, although that claim has not been independently verified. The roughly 30-kilometer-wide strait carries about 8.7% of global seaborne trade, according to UN figures, and links the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the wider Indian Ocean. The advance has coincided with a new wave of Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia.
On Monday, the group said it had fired dozens of missiles and drones at an air base in Khamis Mushait. Saudi authorities issued alerts in four southern cities, while the Saudi-led coalition said 13 civilians were wounded. Houthis said Riyadh retaliated with dozens of strikes.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman called U.S. President Donald Trump twice last week to seek U.S. strikes on Houthi targets, but Washington has so far resisted direct military intervention. Trump told reporters on Saturday the Houthis “don’t want to fight with us” and “would much prefer not having us involved,” adding that they were “letting most ships go through.” Multiple Houthi leaders and organizations have claimed that shipping through Bab el-Mandeb remained safe and that the only restriction on the strait was their ban on Saudi vessels.
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