11 September 2026 , 19:27
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Satellite imagery showed smoke in the area of a crucial oil pipeline in Saudi Arabia, raising fears of another heavy attack by the Houthis on energy infrastructure.
Images verified by Reuters showed smoke in the vicinity of the East-West oil pipeline, as the Houthis captured a strategic island of Perim in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The waterway in the Red Sea is key to global oil shipping.
Earlier, two sources from the Saudi-backed, internationally recognised Yemeni government said its forces had withdrawn from Perim and that the Houthis had also taken the mainland Red Sea coastal town of Dhubab, which faces the island.
The developments threaten to bring further chaos for energy exports. The price of oil touched $108 a barrel on Friday for the first time since May after the Houthis captured Yemen’s strategic port city of Mokha.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, has relied on the Red Sea route since the Iran conflict effectively closed Hormuz, through which a fifth of global oil used to flow.
Mokha is around 50 miles from Bab el-Mandeb, a geopolitical chokepoint connecting the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden and through which about 12 per cent of the world’s goods are typically shipped.
World Affairs Correspondent