How important is it to keep the Bab el-Mandeb Strait open? | The Business | ABC NEWS

Markets may have the jitters but how realistic is it that the Houthis could open a new front in the war?
The US has warned the rebel group could threaten shipping near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait between the southern Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. Such action could impede Saudi Arabia's oil shipments.
One of Australia's leading experts on international law, and law of the sea, ANU's professor Donald Rothwell says the strait is critical because it's an "international maritime highway in the sense that it connects the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal, through the Red Sea, and then ultimately out into the Indian Ocean."
He says if that strait is closed, the effective passage of all commercial shipping through the Suez Canal will be blocked.
"And of course, the whole reason why the Suez Canal was built originally was to allow for the free passage of vessels between East and West, effectively."
While there are questions over the Houthis' capabilities, Donald Rothwell says there is a legal basis for Australia to feel confident in providing military support in the wider Gulf, which includes the Red Sea.
He says "Australia did provide some level of military assistance, not in the form of a ship, but certainly provided some level of military assistance to the United States and the United Kingdom when they were initially responding to those Houthi attacks in the Red Sea in early 2024". But he says the legal basis for Australian to join an international coalition in the Red Sea - if needed - would now be stronger.
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