Yemen’s Ansar Allah movement (the ‘Houthis’) announced on Monday a complete ban on maritime navigation to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia under the slogan “blockade for blockade,” confirming what Al Manassa reported on Sunday, citing remarks by the movement’s political bureau member Mohammed Al-Bukhaiti.
The group’s forces confirmed in an official statement that the decision takes effect immediately from the moment the statement was issued, in response to what it described as the continued economic blockade imposed on Yemen’s crossings and ports.
In remarks to Al Manassa on Sunday, Al-Bukhaiti anticipated an escalation in the Bab El-Mandeb Strait, stressing that the group was prepared to “meet blockade with blockade,” commenting on reports that the Houthis were preparing to close the waterway if Iranian energy facilities came under a US attack.
Any measures the group might take in the Red Sea would target only “Saudi vessels and those aligned with them,” Al-Bukhaiti said, stressing that Ansar Allah “do not seek to harm the interests of any non-aggressor state,” and that Egypt, Sudan, and the other Red Sea littoral states were not among the group’s targets.
Meanwhile, the group’s statement on Monday stressed its commitment to “the Yemeni people’s right to confront the blockade through comprehensive escalation,” affirming that its military forces were ready to deal with all options and respond decisively to any escalatory step by the Saudi side.
The group also called on residents in areas under its control to continue mobilizing and preparing for all possible scenarios and developments, while continuing to reinforce the front lines with fighters.
In its statement, Ansar Allah accused Saudi Arabia of “continuing to impose an unjust and brutal blockade on Yemen for nearly 12 years, including looting its wealth, closing ports and airports by land, sea, and air, in addition to targeting Sanaa International Airport.”
The group described the blockade as “illegitimate and aggressive, lacking any legal or humanitarian justification,” arguing that this gives it the full right to confront it using all available military means to defend the rights of the Yemeni people and end their suffering.
Any disruption to navigation through the Bab El-Mandeb Strait is viewed as having a direct impact on vessels heading to the Suez Canal, whose revenues have already been hit over the past two years by Ansar Allah attacks on ships linked to Israel and the United States, in response to the Israeli genocide in Gaza, prompting many shipping companies to reroute vessels around the Cape of Good Hope.
The escalation against Saudi Arabia comes days after media reports, citing Iranian and regional sources, said Tehran had asked the group to prepare to close the Bab El-Mandeb Strait if the United States targeted Iranian energy facilities, as part of its response to the US blockade on Iranian oil exports and maritime navigation.
These developments in the Red Sea coincide with the widening confrontation between the United States and Iran and growing concerns that the conflict could spread to strategic maritime routes, with both the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab El-Mandeb Strait becoming part of the equation of mutual pressure between the parties to the crisis.
