Yemen's Houthis attack Saudis, seize crucial Red Sea islands

BREAKING: Yemen's Houthis seize two strategic Red Sea islands and launch fresh missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia, tightening their grip on a key global shipping route.

Houthi rebels have seized two more islands in the Red Sea. Greater and Lesser Hanish fell on Monday, and with them a tighter grip on one of the last shipping routes Saudi oil has left.

Remember, the Strait of Hormuz has been shut since February, when the US began bombing Iran. That forced Saudi Arabia to push its exports through the Bab el-Mandab passage instead. Then last week the Houthis took Mayun Island and the port of Mokha. Add the Hanish islands, and the alternative route is effectively in their hands.

They didn't stop at the islands. Fresh missile and drone strikes hit Saudi military targets Monday, which the group says answers more than three hundred Saudi airstrikes on Yemen in five days. Tehran insists it doesn't interfere in Yemeni affairs.

Whatever you make of that, the fact is both of the world's great oil chokepoints are now closed or contested, and there is no third route.

This is Sara White, reporting for HIT.