How the Houthis are also putting Egypt under pressure

Any and all ships may pass, at least at first. That was how the spokesperson for Yemen's Houthis rebel militia put it. Transit through the Red Sea would be safe, with one exception: According to the Houthi spokesperson, ships from Saudi Arabia would not be allowed to pass this stretch of the sea.

The comments came during a time when the Houthi militia has been fighting to increase its presence at the southern entrance to the ocean passage. The Houthis now control the tiny volcanic island of Mayun, also known as Perim, at the entrance to the Red Sea , as well as other parts of the Yemeni coast and some small islands.

With these moves, pressure is growing on Saudi Arabia, the country that opposes the Houthis and previously fought a war (unsuccessfully) with them.

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But pressure is now also increasing in Egypt . Every decrease in shipping traffic through the Red Sea also impacts one of that country's most important sources of national income, the Suez Canal.

As yet, maritime traffic through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait has not been significantly reduced. According to news agency Reuters, last Saturday 24 ships passed through it and on Sunday, 27 did so. That is around the same as the 10-day average. The Houthis appear to want to signal that their plan is not stop traffic altogether. The Bab el-Mandeb Strait is a chokepoint between Yemen and and the Horn of Africa. Ships have to pass it to enter the Red Sea.

In general though, maritime traffic has decreased here, according to maritime intelligence organization Kpler. On Monday, 21 ships went through the strait. But in the middle of July, the average number of ships passing through was 47.

"The Houthis could actually interrupt, or at least significantly disturb, the connection between Asia and Europe," says Stephan Roll, a senior fellow with the Africa and Middle East division at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, or SWP, in Berlin. "So first we have to wait and see how big the actual disruption to the Suez Canal will be."