The US Office of Naval Intelligence has warned commercial shipping of risks from sea mines planted by Al-Houthi militias in the Strait of Bab Al-Mandab near the entrance to the port of Mokha.

According to the Saudi Press Agency, SPA, the office said in a report that the attacks on ships in the strait, especially commercial ones, stimulate other effective bodies to intervene, pointing out that the US Navy will necessarily assume the leading role in efforts to protect the freedom of shipping navigation.

The Strait of Bab Al-Mandab has acquired a great importance for global navigation as it is the main route by which commercial ships move from the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea, then to the Suez Canal and Mediterranean. It is crossed daily by more than sixty commercial ships and sees transfers of 3,300,000 barrels of oil per day.

Coup militias have carried out a range of attacks in Bab Al-Mandab, attacking a Saudi frigate last month, an Emirates relief ship, and in October 2016, two US Navy patrol ships.