Chokepoint · Red Sea
Bab el-Mandeb
Disrupted since November 2023Updated September 29, 2026
Bab el-Mandeb is the strait between Yemen and Djibouti and Eritrea that joins the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. It is 26 km wide at its narrowest. Ships sailing between the Suez Canal and Asia pass through it. The name is usually translated as "Gate of Grief".
- Width at the narrowest
- 26 km
- 14 nautical miles
- Main channel
- 20 km
- west of Perim island
- Oil a day, early 2025
- 4.2 million
- barrels, 9.3 million in 2023
- Ships a day
- 26
- 74 a day in 2023
- Shores
Yemen
Djibouti
Eritrea
Where is Bab el-Mandeb?
Bab el-Mandeb is at the southern end of the Red Sea, between Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula and Djibouti and Eritrea in Africa. It is 26 km wide between Ras Menheli in Yemen and Ras Siyyan in Djibouti. Perim, a small Yemeni island, splits the strait into two channels. Ships use the wider western channel, about 20 km wide.
YEMEN
DJIBOUTI
ERITREA
Perim
Mokha
Obock
Assab
Red Sea
Gulf of Aden
YEMEN
DJIBOUTI
Perim
Mokha
Red Sea
Gulf of Aden
Is Bab el-Mandeb safe for ships?
Not fully. The Houthis, an Iran-backed group in northern Yemen, began attacking ships in November 2023 during the Gaza war. They hit more than a hundred ships and sank four by 2025. Attacks paused after the Gaza ceasefire in October 2025. In July 2026 the Houthis declared a blockade of Saudi shipping. In September they took Mokha and Perim island.
The Houthis say the strait is safe for every ship except Saudi ones. In the four weeks to September 20, about 26 ships a day passed, against 74 in 2023.
Ships through the strait each day
Weekly average, January 2023 to September 2026
How much oil goes through Bab el-Mandeb?
About 4.2 million barrels a day in the first half of 2025, less than half the 9.3 million of 2023, according to the US Energy Information Administration. Tankers going between the Persian Gulf and Europe now often sail around Africa instead. Saudi Arabia's port of Yanbu is inside the Red Sea, so Saudi oil bound for Asia still passes through Bab el-Mandeb.
Oil through each chokepoint
Who has military bases near Bab el-Mandeb?
Djibouti, on the African shore of the strait, hosts bases from several countries. The United States has Camp Lemonnier, with about 4,000 people. China opened its first overseas military base in Djibouti in 2017. France has had troops there since Djibouti's independence and had about 1,450 in 2021. Japan opened a base in 2011 and Italy in 2013.
Foreign bases in Djibouti
United StatesCamp Lemonnier, about 4,000 people
ChinaIts first overseas military base, opened in 2017
FranceAbout 1,450 troops in 2021
JapanBase opened in 2011
ItalyBase opened in 2013
Who controls Bab el-Mandeb?
Yemen, Djibouti and Eritrea share its coasts. The strait is narrow enough that their territorial waters meet, so there are no international waters in it. Under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, ships have the right of transit passage. Yemen ratified the convention in 1987 and Djibouti in 1991; Eritrea has not. Since September 2026 the Houthis, whom most countries do not recognize as Yemen's government, hold the Yemeni shore.
Across the strait at its narrowest
26 km, 14 nautical miles
The strait over the years
- 1799The British East India Company occupies Perim island.
- 1869The Suez Canal opens, making Bab el-Mandeb part of the shortest sea route between Europe and Asia.
- 1973During the Yom Kippur War in October, Egypt's navy blockades the strait to ships bound for Israel's port of Eilat.
- 2000Al-Qaeda suicide bombers attack the USS Cole in the port of Aden on October 12, killing 17 sailors.
- 2023The Houthis land a helicopter on the car carrier Galaxy Leader and seize it. Its 25 crew are held for 430 days.
- Sep 2026The Houthis take Mokha and Perim and hold the whole Yemeni shore of the strait.
