Red Sea Tensions Resurface, Threatening Egypt's Suez Canal Lifeline
Yemen's Houthi movement first threatened traffic through Bab el-Mandeb — the corridor linking the Red Sea to the Suez Canal and, beyond it, the Mediterranean — nearly three years ago. Egyptian officials say Houthi assaults on shipping back then drained roughly $11 billion from the canal, one of the country's top sources of foreign currency.
Around two months ago, the Houthis resumed striking vessels in the Red Sea, prompting fresh Egyptian warnings about the fallout from any disruption to global maritime routes, the canal included, as it links Asia and Europe.
Yemen's territorial landscape has also shifted: the Houthis have pushed along the western coast, seizing strategic ground including Red Sea islands such as Mayyun Island inside the Bab el-Mandeb Strait itself.
The Red Sea and Gulf of Aden have grown more volatile since July 20, when the Houthis declared a "maritime blockade" targeting vessels tied to Saudi Arabia — retaliation, they claim, for a Saudi blockade on Houthi-held Yemeni territory.
Oil tankers and Saudi-linked ships have come under Houthi fire along regional routes, alongside strikes inside the kingdom itself hitting civilian airports and energy infrastructure, leaving casualties and damage in their wake.
Saudi Arabia has headed a military coalition backing Yemen's internationally recognized government since 2015, while Iran stands accused of arming the Houthis, who have held Sanaa and other major cities since 2014.
Last week, Egypt and Saudi Arabia underscored the need to guarantee free navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, Bab el-Mandeb and the Red Sea, following talks in Cairo between Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Days before that, Sisi used a BRICS summit in India to call for protecting freedom of navigation through international waterways, given how much global trade flows through the Red Sea and Suez Canal.
The renewed strain follows a broader regional flashpoint: US and Israeli strikes on Iran in February, which triggered Iranian missile and drone retaliation across the region and an effective Iranian shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical energy corridor.
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