Suez Canal could be closed by Houthi attacks and Western economy shattered as Yemeni

The Houthi rebels in Yemen could cause further turmoil to global shipping by effectively closing the Suez Canal, experts have warned.

The terror group, backed by Iran, entered the war between Tehran and the US and Israel overnight with a missile attack towards Tel Aviv.

It is feared the militia could make a return to striking ships after attacking multiple vessels in the Red Sea during the war in Gaza.

An obvious target would be the Bab al-Mandab Strait off the coast of Yemen, a key choke point for sea traffic towards the ​Suez Canal.

Mohamad Elmasry, a professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, said today the Houthis have ‘significant power’. He added:

If they decided to move to shut down Bab al-Mandeb strait, the Red Sea and, ultimately, the Suez Canal, then we would have two major choke points [closed] along with the Strait of Hormuz.

These are major international shipping waterways for international trade, so I think it can be very significant from that standpoint.

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have entered the conflict in the Middle East and launched a missile attack on Israel.

The terror group’s strike raises the prospects of a broader regional confrontation, as well as an increased threat to shipping in the region.

The group said the attack with a barrage of missiles came after continued targeting of infrastructure in Iran, Lebanon, Iraq and the Palestinian territories, adding that their operations would continue until the ‘aggression’ on all fronts ends.

On Friday, Brig Gen Saree, a military spokesman for the Houthis, said the rebels could join the war on behalf of Iran if attacks on the country did not cease.

‘We affirm that our fingers are on the trigger for direct military intervention in any of the following cases,’ Saree said. They included the ‘continuation of the escalation against the Islamic Republic and the Axis of Jihad and Resistance, as dictated by the theatre of military operations.’

The group has now said it will remain in the conflict until all its goals are met.

There are fears that the move could see wider attacks on shipping in the region and even the closure of the Red Sea, in addition to Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

The Houthis previously launched strikes against vessels in the Red Sea during the height of Israel’s war in Gaza.

Thousands of Palestine Coalition marchers have passed Harrods in London, as they demand an end to bombing in Iran.

The mass demonstration is taking place at the same time as another large protest against the far-right, which plans to end with music in Trafalgar Square from the likes of former Little Mix singer Leigh-Anne Pinnock.

The Palestine Coalition earlier gathered with Stop the War protestors less than a mile from Westminster Synagogue, as police said they acknowledge the Jewish community’s ‘concerns’, given the arson attack on Jewish charity ambulances in Golders Green that happened just this week.

The march by pro-Palestine supporters formed at the southern end of Exhibition Road and plans to march through central London to Hyde Park Corner, where they will then turn onto Piccadilly and join Together Alliance, who are marching against racism and the far-right. Both will end with a rally on Whitehall.

A video message from London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan is expected to be played to those gathered at the Whitehall stage and the leader of the Green party Zack Polanski is also expected to make a speech.

By Eleanor Mann

President Trump is considering a ‘pay-to-play’ Nato, with members who fail to hit a five per cent spending target banned from key decisions.

The proposed Nato shake-up would see block allies who don’t meet a spending target set by Trump excluded from strategic votes – including when the bloc goes to war.

It is one of several plans the US president is weighing up after allies rejected his demand to send warships to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, including a plan which could see the removal of American troops from Germany.

Nato members currently already spend at least 2 per cent of their GDP on defence, after Trump urged Nato members to double their military funding in 2018.

The alliance’s secretary-general Mark Rutte said leaders would have to set out plans for reaching the new 5 per cent target at a summit in Turkey later this year.

Read more:

Any Houthi move to block the Bab al-Mandeb strait, a choke point for sea traffic towards the Suez Canal, would be a ‘nightmare scenario’, a Cambridge University academic has said.

Dr Elisabeth Kendall, a Middle East specialist and the president of Girton College, told Al-Jazeera after the group joined the Iran war today: ‘This is a nightmare scenario if it escalates further.

‘Because if you have restrictions on the Strait of Hormuz at the same time as restrictions escalating in the Bab al-Mandeb, then you really will disrupt, if not cripple, trade toward Europe.

‘So, this is a knife edge, really, depending on what happens next. Going to actually strike the Red Sea at the moment when it’s one of the more dependable routes out, and oil is going out via Yanbu from Saudi Arabia on the Red Sea, that would be a bit of a game changer.’

Qatar and Ukraine have penned a defence cooperation agreement that includes the exchange of expertise in countering missile and drone systems, according to Qatar’s Defence Ministry.

Experts fear that the Houthis could close the Suez Canal after the Yemeni militia joined the conflict in the Middle East overnight by firing a missile towards Israel.

Israel’s military said it had successfully intercepted the strike, but the move raises concerns that the armed militia could join Tehran in attacks on shipping in the region.

The Houthis could target ships in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a choke point which leads to the Suez Canal, or even the canal itself, Mohamad Elmasry, a professor of Media Studies at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, has said.

This would mean a second major shipping route closed in addition to the Strait of Hormuz, potentially causing major harm to the global economy, with vessels unable to retain insurance to travel through the region.

An Israeli strike on a car in southern Lebanon today killed four people, including journalist Ali Shoeib.

According to the IDF, Shoeib was an operative in the Radwan Force’s intelligence unit and worked as a journalist for the Hezbollah-linked Al-Manar channel.

The IDF said Shoeib ‘served as a terrorist in the Hezbollah terror organisation under the guise of a journalist for the Al-Manar network, while consistently working to expose the locations of IDF troops operating in southern Lebanon and along the border, and maintained continuous contact with other terrorists in the Radwan Force unit in particular and within the terror organisation in general.’

The military added that Shoeib also ‘engaged in incitement against IDF troops and Israeli civilians, using his position as a channel to disseminate Hezbollah propaganda materials.’

Seven people have been hurt in an Iranian missile attack on a town in central Israel, Israel’s rescue service Magen David Adom said Saturday.

Some people were wounded as a result of the impact of the explosion in Eshtaol, near Jerusalem, while others were hurt running to shelters.

Pictured: Israeli security and rescue personnel work at the impact site following Iranian missile barrages as the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran continues, in central Israel, March 28, 2026.

Iran has fired more than 400 ballistic missiles at the UAE since the beginning of the conflict with the US and Israel, authorities said today.

The Ministry of Defence said a further 20 missiles and 37 drones had been ‘engaged’ by its air defence systems so far today.

It added that since the first attacks from Iran, UAE air defences have engaged 398 ballistic missiles, 15 cruise missiles, and 1,872 drones.

Two members of its armed forces and eight civilians have been killed in the Gulf state so far.