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Yemeni civilians celebrate while riding in the back of a pickup truck in the Bani Matar district, Yemen, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026, as they follow a convoy carrying Houthi prisoners freed in Mokha on its way to Sanaa following the Houthi takeover of the southern Red Sea port city.<\/p>\n
STR\/AP Photo\/STR<\/p>\n
Houthi prisoners freed in Mokha carry their belongings as they arrive in Sanaa, Yemen, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026, following the Houthi takeover of the southern Red Sea port city.<\/p>\n
STR\/AP Photo\/STR<\/p>\n
This image taken from undated video released by the Ansar Allah Media Office, the media arm of Yemen’s Houthi rebels, on Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026, shows a vehicle burning during what the group says was an advance by Houthi fighters against Saudi-backed forces at an undisclosed location in southern Yemen. (Ansar Allah Media Office via AP)<\/p>\n
Ansar Allah Media Office via AP<\/p>\n
This image taken from undated video released by the Ansar Allah Media Office, the media arm of Yemen’s Houthi rebels, on Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026, shows Houthi fighters chant after praying beside military vehicles during what the group says was their advance against Saudi-backed forces at an undisclosed location in southern Yemen. (Ansar Allah Media Office via AP)<\/p>\n
Ansar Allah Media Office via AP<\/p>\n
Houthi fighters escort a convoy carrying prisoners freed in Mokha through the Bani Matar district on its way to Sanaa, Yemen, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026, following the Houthi takeover of the southern Red Sea port city.<\/p>\n
STR\/AP Photo\/STR<\/p>\n
CAIRO (AP) \u2014 Yemen\u2019s Iran-backed Houthi rebels captured more strategic islands in the southern Red Sea, government and Houthi officials said Monday, strengthening their control of a major maritime shipping route.<\/p>\n
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The capture of the islands of Greater and Lesser Hanish is the latest in the rebels’ swift advance around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a key passage for Saudi oil shipments that has only become more crucial during the Iran war since it serves as an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n
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Like Hormuz, which is located at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait \u2014 on the opposite side of the Arabian Peninsula \u2014 is a chokepoint that connects the Red Sea to the open ocean and Saudi Arabia’s key Asian markets.<\/p>\n
For more than a month, the Houthis have been striking Saudi oil infrastructure and shipping in the Red Sea, stepping up pressure on global oil prices and boosting Iran\u2019s leverage in its war with the United States.<\/p>\n
Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces have been attempting to rally and fight back. But the Houthi gains have seemingly come with little resistance.<\/p>\n
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The rebels deployed on the Hanish islands, 160 kilometers (100 miles) north of Bab el-Mandeb, after hundreds of government-allied forces withdrew from the archipelago, according to two government officials and a Houthi official. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to journalists.<\/p>\n
The capture of the islands came after the rebels last week seized the port city of Mokha on the mainland nearby and the island of Mayun, inside the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The Houthis\u2019 advances also put them just 20 miles (32 kilometers) from the U.S. military base in Djibouti, on the other side of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.<\/p>\n
Thousands of Yemenis are fleeing the fighting<\/p>\n
The fighting is pushing in the impoverished nation back into full-fledged civil war, after a truce that largely maintained quiet since 2022. Even as they advance along the Red Sea, the Houthis have waged an offensive further inland, particularly in the longtime battleground province of Taiz.<\/p>\n
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Some 150 civilians have been killed in fighting since Sept. 3, including a pregnant woman killed Saturday in a village in Taiz, the government\u2019s Human Rights Ministry said. More than 200 civilians have been wounded, it said.<\/p>\n
Thousands of families have fled their homes in Taiz and nearby provinces in the past day along, said Khanzad Shah, acting head of Islamic Relief, a charity that operates in the area.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany of them don\u2019t have enough food or water as they had to flee with whatever they could carry. In some areas, whole villages have reportedly emptied,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The United Nations has estimated that more than 80,000 people have been displaced in the past two weeks, including over 2,000 people who fled by boat to Djibouti.<\/p>\n
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