Yemen's Houthis reach strategic island at mouth of vital shipping lane

By Mohammed Ghobari, Eman Abouhassira and Catherine Cartier ADEN/DUBAI, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis reached the strategic island of Perim in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on Friday, four Yemeni government sources told Reuters, moving to tighten their grip on a vital global shipping route in the widening Middle East war. Earlier, two sources from the Saudi-backed, internationally recognised Yemeni government said its forces had pulled out of Perim and that the Houthis had also taken the mainland Red Sea coastal town of Dhubab, which faces the island.