Yemen’s Houthi movement has taken Greater Hanish and Lesser Hanish in the southern Red Sea, according to Houthi and Yemeni government officials cited by the Associated Press on Monday, 14 September 2026. The islands sit about 160 kilometres north of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, giving the group a new position along one of the world’s most closely watched maritime corridors.
The officials said government-aligned forces withdrew before Houthi fighters moved onto the islands. Reporting from both sides supports the conclusion that control changed, but no neutral international body has publicly inspected the positions. The development is therefore best described as a reported takeover corroborated by opposing officials—not as an independently verified inventory of every installation or fighter on the islands.
A reported takeover, not an independently inspected position
The advance follows the Houthis’ capture of the mainland port of Mokha and Mayun Island closer to the strait. Together, the gains extend their reach along Yemen’s west coast. They do not automatically give the group physical control over every ship transiting Bab el-Mandeb, and no official maritime notice reviewed for this update says the entire passage has closed.
Bab el-Mandeb connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and the wider Indian Ocean. Its security matters directly to Djibouti, Eritrea, Somalia and other African economies that depend on fuel, food and container traffic through the corridor. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations service had already described southern Red Sea traffic as reduced and security-sensitive; that earlier assessment should not be misread as proof that all commercial movement has stopped after the Hanish development.
Displacement rises above 93,000
The humanitarian picture has also worsened. IOM reported on 14 September that 93,864 people had been newly displaced across Yemen during the current escalation. That official figure supersedes the 85,818 estimate previously carried in this article and represents people forced from their homes, not a count of deaths or people who have crossed an international border.
IOM identified Taiz and Lahj as the hardest-hit governorates. Its district figures include 18,840 displaced people in Jabal Habashy and 9,966 in Al Ma’afer, both in Taiz, as well as 16,464 in Al-Mudharibah and 2,892 in Tuban, both in Lahj. Displacement was also recorded in Aden, Al Hodeidah, Abyan and other parts of Taiz.
More than 2,000 people have separately crossed the Red Sea to Djibouti’s northern coast near Obock. Djiboutian authorities, IOM and United Nations partners have been moving arrivals to the Markazi site and providing emergency assistance. That cross-border figure is a smaller category within the wider crisis and should not be added to the internal-displacement total as though both datasets count the same movement.
What the island gain means for Africa
Somali traders and Mogadishu port officials are meanwhile testing more direct Asian cargo connections to reduce exposure to disruption around Bab el-Mandeb and the Strait of Hormuz. A direct sugar shipment from Sri Lanka shows that an alternative is being used; it does not prove that established Gulf routes have been permanently abandoned or that one route can replace every carrier and cargo type.
The island takeover increases strategic risk, but its economic effect still requires evidence. No official data reviewed for this report establishes a new general increase in Somali retail prices, a complete halt to Djibouti-bound shipping or an indiscriminate Houthi attack on all commercial vessels after the reported capture. Territorial control, navigational warnings, actual attacks and consumer-price changes are related questions—not interchangeable facts.
The next meaningful indicators will be independent confirmation of control on the Hanish islands, updated maritime advisories, verified attacks or diversions involving commercial ships, further IOM displacement counts and conditions at reception sites in Djibouti. For now, the confirmed humanitarian measure is 93,864 newly displaced people; the reported military development is a Houthi takeover supported by accounts from officials on both sides; and a full closure of Bab el-Mandeb has not been established.
