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Source: http://www.aawsat.net/2015/02/article55341019
Houthis Attempting to Control Yemen's Bab El-Mandeb Strait
(Asharq Al-Awsat-UK) Arafat Madabish - Recent advances by Yemen's Houthi movement are part of an attempt to take control of the strategic Bab El-Mandeb strait off the Yemeni coast, military sources in the country said on Saturday. On Friday armed Houthis attempted an attack on the Al-Khoukha military camp just south of the coastal city of Al-Hudaydah, close to the strategic waterway. Yemeni Brig.-Gen. (ret.) Mohsen Khasrouf said the group "has its eyes firmly on the Bab El-Mandeb strait....The Bab El-Mandeb strait is not just related to Yemen's security but to the security of the whole region." He said that Iran was acting through the Houthis and attempting to gain control of the strait, which in addition to Iranian control of the strait of Hormuz, would give the Islamic Republic a strategic maritime advantage on the Arabian Peninsula's surrounding waterways.