What is the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, and why does the Houthi ‘blockade’ threat against Saudi Arabia matter?

It is also not yet clear how the Houthis intend to enforce the blockade. But it revives memories of the attacks the group carried out on shipping in the Red Sea between 2023 and 2024.

What is the Bab el-Mandeb Strait?

Bab el-Mandeb, which translates to “Gate of Tears” in Arabic, is a narrow waterway and a major global chokepoint that connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. It sits between Yemen on one side and Djibouti and Eritrea, in the Horn of Africa, on the other.

Source: US Energy Energy Information Administration

At its narrowest point, the Strait is just 29 km wide, with just two channels for inbound and outbound traffic. The strait located at the mouth of the Red Sea, which leads to the Suez Canal — the gateway to Europe. 

The Strait is one of the world’s most important shipping and energy passages. Around 12% of global trade usually passes through it. In 2024 alone, about 4.1 billion barrels of oil and petroleum products passed through the Strait, roughly 5% of the global total, Al Jazeera reported.

A full closure of the Strait to Saudi shipping would disrupt Saudi oil exports to Asia and could cut global oil supply by around seven per cent, according to shipping data firm Kpler.

Why does the timing matter?

The blockade announcement arrives as Saudi Arabia’s other main sea route is also under strain. The Strait of Hormuz, a critical maritime chokepoint between Iran in the north and Oman and the UAE in the south, has been effectively closed since the US and Israel went to war with Iran in late February.

Since then, the kingdom has leaned on its East-West pipeline, or Petroline, which runs about 1,201 km from the Abqaiq oil field to the Red Sea port of Yanbu, to move oil out through Bab el-Mandeb to Asia and elsewhere.

A Bab el-Mandeb blockade would threaten that alternative route as well, which is why it poses a greater risk than earlier disruptions. The war with Iran has already disrupted global oil supply, so closing Bab el-Mandeb and the Strait of Hormuz could put roughly a quarter of the world’s oil and gas at risk.

Has this happened before?

Bab el-Mandeb has been a flashpoint before. In October 2016, Houthi forces fired missiles at a Saudi-led coalition vessel, the Swift, and, days later, at the US destroyer USS Mason near the Strait.

In July 2018, after Houthi attacks on two Saudi oil tankers, Saudi Arabia briefly suspended all oil shipments through Bab el-Mandeb.

More recently, starting in November 2023, the Houthis launched a sustained campaign of drone, missile, and small-boat attacks on shipping in the southern Red Sea, beginning with the seizure of the cargo ship Galaxy Leader, which the group said was linked to Israel.

The campaign initially targeted vessels tied to Israel, later expanding to ships linked to the US and the UK.

The US Maritime Administration recorded more than 100 separate Houthi attacks on commercial vessels since November 2023, affecting over 60 nations.

Suez Canal connects the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean, reducing the distance it took to travel from Europe to Asia via the South African coast route. (Express graphic, data via Reuters)

This pushed many shipping firms, including Denmark’s Maersk, to reroute around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope as opposed to the Red Sea, a detour that adds roughly 3,500 to 4,000 nautical miles and 10 to 14 days to a typical Asia-Europe voyage, sharply raising fuel and freight costs.

Those attacks eased after a ceasefire in Gaza was announced last October, reducing the pressure that had formed around the Red Sea route.

This is the first time, however, that the Houthis have specifically declared a blockade aimed at Saudi Arabia rather than at Israel-linked or Western shipping.

This matters for India too. Saudi Arabia was India’s third-largest crude supplier in June, accounting for over seven per cent of imports, and a large share of that oil and much of India’s trade with Europe moved through Bab el-Mandeb itself, not just the Strait of Hormuz.

Any disruption here could delay crude shipments and raise import costs. Since India imports the majority of its oil needs, rising crude prices also raise the risk of higher fuel prices and inflation in India and globally.

The author is an intern with The Indian Express.