DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A Yemeni minister warned Tuesday that the country’s Houthi rebels are plotting to seize land along the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which would allow the group to further threaten the vital shipping artery.

Three Houthi military sources and a spokesman for Yemeni government forces bordering the waterway also told AFP the rebels are planning to advance.

Such an assault, if successful, would cement Houthi control over one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, which the Iran-backed rebels have disrupted with attacks on passing vessels since the Gaza war broke out after the Hamas massacre in southern Israel in October 2023.

It would also extend the hold of Tehran and its allies to a second vital waterway in the Middle East after Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz in its war with the United States.

Greater Houthi control of Bab el-Mandeb would choke off oil exports from Saudi Arabia, against which the rebels have announced a maritime blockade.

“The Houthi militia… is working to create the conditions for seizing control of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait by expanding its presence along the western coast and attempting to control strategic Yemeni islands in the Red Sea,” Yemen’s information minister Moammar........

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