Special to WorldTribune.com

Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen have captured a military base along one of the world’s major oil lanes, the strategic Bab Al Mandeb waterway between the Red Sea and Arabian Sea.

Egypt last month threatened military action in Yemen if Bab Al Mandeb was threatened, Geostrategy-Direct.com reported.

A senior official said Egypt would send its military to block the Shi’ite takeover of the Bab Al Mandeb waterway off the coast of Yemen. Bab Al Mandeb links the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.

“We will not accept the closure of this waterway,” Egyptian Army Lt. Gen. Mohab Mamish said, according to the report.

[Related: Egypt warns of intervention in Yemen if key waterway threatened, Feb. 18.]

Guards with the 17th Armored Division in Yemen’s Taiz province surrendered to the Houthis, who reached the gates of the base despite six days of Saudi-led air strikes, Reuters reported.

3.8 million barrels of oil and petroleum products” passed through the Bab el-Mandeb daily, making it the world’s fourth-busiest chokepoint, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) fact-sheet .

“Closure of the Bab el-Mandeb could keep tankers from the Persian Gulf from reaching the Suez Canal or SUMED Pipeline, diverting them around the southern tip of Africa, adding to transit time and cost,” according to the fact-sheet.

“In addition, European and North African southbound oil flows could no longer take the most direct route to Asian markets via the Suez Canal and Bab el-Mandeb.”

  Geostrategy-Direct..com, Pro-Iran militants reach Yemen base at strategic Bab Al Mandeb waterway, WorldTribune.com