ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Yemen's Iran-backed Ansarullah Movement, better known as the Houthis, on Monday declared a maritime embargo against Saudi shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the southern Red Sea, following days of continued military escalation between the Sanaa-based group and the Saudi-aligned internationally recognized government (IRG) based in Aden.
The Houthis declared a "maritime embargo" against Saudi shipping, the group's spokesperson Yahya Saree said in a statement posted on X, noting that the blockade is "effective immediately" and based on "the equation of an eye for an eye."
Pointing to what he described as an "unjust and oppressive siege" by Riyadh "on our ports and airports by land, sea, and air" for 12 years since the onset of the Yemen war, Saree added, "We affirm the right of our great people to respond to the blockade with a blockade, and to respond to all escalation with escalation."
As the Houthis control Yemen's western coastline, the blockade primarily targets the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea.
The move is specifically geared toward blocking Saudi Arabia's western maritime trade route, used to transfer crude via the East-West Pipeline across the kingdom to its major Red Sea export terminal at Yanbu.
The measures come as Riyadh's alternative routes through the Gulf are also facing ongoing disruptions near the Strait of Hormuz, due to maritime restrictions imposed by the Houthis' Iranian allies - the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The move notably comes a week after the Ansarullah movement launched a "ballistic" missile attack against Abha International Airport in southern Saudi Arabia, the Yemeni group's spokesperson said in a previous statement.
Saree added that the strike was in response to the Riyadh-aligned IRG's "blatant attack" on Sanaa International Airport, in which the Aden-based Yemeni government carried out "a number of airstrikes," reportedly to prevent a flight from Iran carrying a Houthi delegation from landing - prompting the aircraft to divert to the port city of Hodeidah instead.
The latest escalation marks the first direct exchange of fire between the two sides since an informal truce took hold in 2022.
