Why the Ansar Allah advance threatens global shipping

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

The Bab el-Mandeb 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 3 miles from Perim Island, within range of the Ansar Allahs’ missiles and drones.

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 el-Mandeb Strait.

The Saudi government said 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 Friday by The New York Times showed a plume of black smoke over 60 miles long rising from an area close to the pipeline.

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

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.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.