Why the Houthis’ Lightning Advance Threatens Global Shipping

 

Why the Houthis’ Lightning Advance Threatens Global Shipping

By Sergio Peçanha, Lazaro Gamio and Weiyi Cai

Updated Sept. 11, 2026, 3:20 p.m. ET

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/09/11/world/middleeast/houthis-yemen-red-sea-shipping-maps.html

 

In a surge of attacks this week, the Houthi militia struck across Yemen’s border into Saudi Arabia; captured a strategic port on the Red Sea; and seized an island at the Bab al-Mandab Strait. The swift advance tightens the Iran-backed group’s grip on a crucial choke point of global oil and cargo shipping.

Sources: Kpler (ship position data); Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute (Houthi stronghold); Global Energy Monitor (pipeline routes). Note: Traffic through strait shown on map is between July 18 and July 24.

The Bab al-Mandab Strait is just 12.5 miles wide at some points, making it a narrow passage for cargo ships heading from Asia and the Middle East to the Suez Canal.

Shipping lanes through the strait run less than three miles from Perim Island, well within range of the Houthis’ missiles and drones.

Sources: International Maritime Organization (shipping lanes); U.S. Department of State (international borders); OpenStreetMap (coastline data).

After Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, Saudi Arabia used pipelines to move oil to the Red Sea and increased its reliance on the Bab al-Mandab Strait.

The Saudi government said on Friday that a strategic pipeline that carried oil across the kingdom to its Red Sea ports was “subjected to several attacks” on Thursday, and that the pipeline had been shut down “as a precautionary measure.” The government did not specify the source of the attacks, which it said had resulted in some injuries.

Satellite images obtained on Friday by The New York Times showed a plume of black smoke more than 60 miles long rising from an area close to the pipeline.

Sources: Copernicus (satellite image from Sept. 10, 2026); Global Energy Monitor (pipeline route).

Saudi Arabia still has alternatives: It could send oil and fuels north to the Mediterranean via a pipeline in Egypt or the Suez Canal.

Sources: Global Energy Monitor (pipelines); Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute (Houthi-controlled areas)

The Houthis’ recent territorial gains could further disrupt global shipping and complicate the war that began when the United States and Israel attacked Iran this year.