Saudi Arabia and Yemeni government forces announce they retook Bab al-Mandab Strait

Saudi Arabia and Yemeni government forces announced they retook the Bab al-Mandab Strait, about two weeks after the Houthis seized it, in an attack that according to the Saudis involved about 100 fighter jets, but according to reports the Houthis are still capable of threatening sea lanes from a distance.

About two weeks after the Houthis took the Bab al-Mandab Strait and endangered freedom of navigation, Saudi Arabia launched an attack together with Yemeni government forces to liberate the strait. According to the Saudis, about 100 fighter jets participated in the strike. During the afternoon, a spokesman for Yemeni government forces announced in an official statement that the forces retook the strait area, and the Houthis fled the area.

According to reports, the concern is that the Houthis will try again to disrupt maritime movement in the strait with precise fire from a distance. They know how to fire from Sana'a, Hodeidah, Haja, al-Bayda, Dhamar, Ibb and Amran, with precision weapons or with drones, and did so long before the physical takeover of Bab al-Mandab. They are tracking ship movements on public maps, on which ships broadcast their location and sea lanes.

The space in the narrow area of the strait is limited, 34 to 39 kilometers, and traffic lanes for tankers are much narrower, about 3.2 kilometers in each direction. The assessment is that the fighting will affect the Houthis' situation and Iran's attempt to impose a maritime blockade in the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf. Saudi Arabia viewed the takeover of the strait as a matter of 'life or death.'

Meanwhile, according to reports, the U.S. Army created a safe passage in the Strait of Hormuz for movement of ships and fuel tankers. According to reports, oil exports from the Middle East returned to pre-war levels and even somewhat more, and last week the amount of shipments surpassed the pre-war average, which stood at 18 million barrels per day.