Where is Perim Island?

In the middle of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait between Yemen and Djibouti, splitting the passage into two channels.

Is Perim Island inhabited?

Only sparsely. It is small, volcanic and largely barren, with a history as a coaling and lighthouse station rather than a settlement.

Perim Island

Also called Mayyun. A few square kilometres of volcanic rock sitting directly beside the shipping lane, which is the entire story.

Position is everything

Perim is small and largely barren. It matters because of where it is: inside the strait rather than beside it, splitting the passage into two unequal channels.

The wider channel runs west, between the island and the African shore; the narrower eastern channel runs between the island and Yemen. Routing depends on which is usable, which is how one island changes the shape of a chokepoint.

A long history of being wanted

Britain held the island for much of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as part of the route to India, with a coaling station and a lighthouse. Control has been contested repeatedly since, for the same reason every time.

It is a recurring pattern in chokepoint geography: the valuable ground is rarely the habitable ground. It is the ground that overlooks the lane.

Why it is in the news

In September 2026 Houthi fighters reached the island after Yemeni government forces withdrew, according to officials cited by Reuters and Al Jazeera. Taking Perim completed control of the Yemeni side of the strait.

The current status page tracks what that has meant for transit counts.

Common questions

Where is Perim Island?: In the middle of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait between Yemen and Djibouti, splitting the passage into two channels.
Is Perim Island inhabited?: Only sparsely. It is small, volcanic and largely barren, with a history as a coaling and lighthouse station rather than a settlement.