Yemen’s Houthis captured the Port of Mokha and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, shattering a UN-brokered ceasefire and threatening critical global energy trade routes amid broader conflict with Saudi Arabia. This territorial expansion brings Houthi forces within 80 miles of Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti while intensifying security risks for Saudi energy infrastructure already strained by pipeline attacks.
Furthermore, the strategic shift enables closer operational collaboration between the Houthis and al-Shabaab through weapons exchanges and technical training. Meanwhile, the impending termination of U.S. funding for UN logistical support in Somalia threatens to provide militant groups with greater freedom of movement across the Horn of Africa. These compounding maritime and regional security developments complicate multilateral efforts to stabilize Red Sea shipping corridors and force regional actors to confront an expanded battlespace extending far beyond the immediate Yemeni theater.
Houthi control over the Bab al-Mandeb Strait and the island of Perim directly threatens the operational perimeter of Combined Joint Task Force–Horn of Africa at Camp Lemonnier. This geographical compression limits the maneuvering room for naval assets transiting the southern Red Sea corridor while deepening tactical alignment with al-Shabaab across the Gulf of Aden.
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