The Houthis cannot project force into the Bab al-Madab strait as much as Iran can into the Strait of Hormuz. Contested territory, not as mountainess, no deep tunnels filled with countless drones.
However, as we have seen you don’t need to project that much force in order scare off commercial ships. One drone or mine is all would take.
This would just another front the US would need to manage either directly or through our allies.
The Houthis arent even claiming a blockage of the strait currently (except for Saudi ships) probably to buy time to cement their positions.
Remember when the Suez Canal closed? This is that same shipping lane. At least we still have access to the Saudi East-West pipeline 🙃.
The Houthis cannot project force into the Bab al-Madab strait as much as Iran can into the Strait of Hormuz. Contested territory, not as mountainess, no deep tunnels filled with countless drones.
However, as we have seen you don’t need to project that much force in order scare off commercial ships. One drone or mine is all would take.
This would just another front the US would need to manage either directly or through our allies.
The Houthis arent even claiming a blockage of the strait currently (except for Saudi ships) probably to buy time to cement their positions.
Remember when the Suez Canal closed? This is that same shipping lane. At least we still have access to the Saudi East-West pipeline 🙃.