Red Sea nations watch as Houthis seize Bab al-Mandeb strait

The Houthis have completed their takeover of Yemen’s entire Red Sea coastline, capturing the port city of Mocha and overrunning the strategic island of Mayyun (Perim) over the weekend.Houthi forces are now positioned just 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the African coast and essentially control the strategically significant Bab al-Mandeb strait, a chokepoint for Red Sea maritime traffic.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Renewed fighting worsens Yemen’s humanitarian crisislist 2 of 3Iran-GCC summit: What’s behind the meeting, why is Bahrain not attending?list 3 of 3More than 2,000 Yemenis flee to Djibouti amid Houthi advancesend of listWhile there are no indication that the Houthis would intervene outside Yemen’s borders, the war is already being felt on the African continent.More than 2,000 people have fled Yemen to Djibouti over the past 24 hours, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said on Sunday.Yemenis arriving in Obock, a Djibouti city only about 20km (12 miles) from Yemen’s coast, are being provided with food and water, but the IOM warned that “more support is needed”.Maritime bottleneckBab al-Mandeb handles roughly 12 percent of global trade, includi...