The Hanish Islands are located in the Red Sea on the northern approach to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. They are located near international shipping lanes, making them strategically valuable for monitoring traffic through the strait. In September 2026 they were captured by the Houthi rebels in northern Yemen, close allies of Iran, in a bid to take control of the strait as a strategic offensive in the Yemeni Civil War (2014β ) and the overlapping 2026 Iran war.
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