US Reportedly in Contact With Houthis Following Seizure of Yemen's Perim Island

The United States has been in contact with Yemen's Houthi movement following its takeover of Perim Island, a strategically located island in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a Yemeni vice president said, according to a report by TASS.

The statement came after Yemeni government forces withdrew from Perim Island, according to the report. Around the same time, Houthi fighters seized the city of Dhubab, located on the Red Sea coast directly across from the island, TASS reported.

Perim Island sits in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a narrow waterway linking the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea, through which a significant share of global maritime trade passes. Control over the strait and surrounding territory has been a point of contention amid Yemen's ongoing conflict.

TASS did not provide further details on the nature or purpose of the reported US contacts with the Houthis, nor did it specify when the exchanges took place. The Houthi movement, which controls large parts of northern Yemen, has been engaged in a prolonged conflict with the Yemeni government and has previously targeted shipping in the Red Sea region.

Further details on the circumstances surrounding the withdrawal of government forces from Perim Island and the capture of Dhubab were not immediately available.