The Bab el-Mandeb Crisis and the New Frontline of Economic Warfare

The Bab el-Mandeb crisis represents a broader transformation in modern warfare, where disrupting maritime trade and global supply chains has become as strategically significant as conventional military operations, requiring new legal, diplomatic, and security responses.

From Battlefields to Shipping Lanes

Bab el-Mandeb is one of the most significant maritime trade routes. Normally, around 14 percent of annual global maritime trade, with fossil fuels accounting for the majority, passes through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), in 2025, around 4.2 million barrels of oil and petroleum liquids per day passed through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. This accounts for approximately 6 percent of all seaborne global oil shipments. The Houthi threat has garnered global attention because the world is already grappling with an energy crisis and inflation due to the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a maritime route that carries around 20 percent of global energy trade.

Maritime Chokepoints as Instruments of Economic Coercion

For the first time in modern history, both maritime chokepoints are under sustained assault simultaneously. As per estimates, the concurrent maritime........

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