On August 5, only one merchant ship—a dry cargo vessel flying the flag of the Bahamas—passed through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. By comparison, 20 ships had traveled this route the day before.
On the same day, the Iran-backed Yemeni Houthis claimed to have carried out missile strikes on two Saudi oil tankers: one near the port city of Yanbu on the Red Sea, and the other in the Gulf of Aden.
Saudi Arabia has not officially confirmed any of these incidents. Last month, the Houthis announced a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea, claiming it was in response to an alleged Saudi blockade of Yemen. Riyadh denies these accusations.
As for the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, only two vessels were recorded there on August 5:
- a Panamanian-flagged cargo ship carrying coal, which was entering the strait;
- a cargo ship flying the Marshall Islands flag, which was leaving the strait.
In fact, shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz fell by a factor of four over the course of the day.
