NewsDialy

Houthi missiles and drones target ships at one of the world's busiest oil chokepoints

7/23/2026

Missile and drone strikes on ships in the southern Red Sea are putting millions of barrels per day of Saudi crude oil exports at risk.

The Bab el-Mandeb, a narrow passage between Yemen and the Horn of Africa, is the gateway connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.

A naval group monitoring the waterway attributed the attacks to Yemen's Houthi movement.

What the Bab el-Mandeb is, and why blocking it matters "Chokepoint" has a specific meaning in global shipping: a passage so narrow that whoever can threaten it can effectively threaten everything moving through it.