Houthis seize Yemeni island in Bab el-Mandeb, taking control of the strait

BREAKING: Houthi fighters seize Yemen's Perim Island, completing their takeover of the Bab el-Mandeb strait after government forces withdrew. Combined with Iran's Hormuz blockade, roughly a third of the world's seaborne trade is now under hostile control.

Houthi fighters have taken Perim Island, and with it the Bab el-Mandeb strait.

Yemeni government forces withdrew, and the Houthis moved in. You can see their fighters here. Perim sits right in the middle of the strait's shipping channel, the southern gate of the Red Sea, the doorway to the Suez Canal. Whoever holds that island looks down on every ship that passes.

Now put that next to Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, and the picture gets genuinely alarming. Two of the world's most important chokepoints, both closed fists. By most counts, roughly a third of the world's seaborne trade now moves at the pleasure of Tehran and its allies.

Europe's energy, Asia's exports, everyone's insurance premiums. Nobody sails those waters now without asking permission or taking the long way around Africa. A third of world trade, held hostage by two straits.

This is Angel Manalo, reporting for HIT.