Bab al-Mandab

Significance for maritime security and geopolitics

The Bab al-Mandab is widely regarded to play a key role in international, regional and maritime security in the Middle East, East Africa, the Red Sea, and the Gulf of Aden. The strait is only "9¼ miles (16½ km)" wide at its narrowest point between Djibouti and Perim (the "Large Strait", as opposed to the "Small Strait" on the other side with Yemen), and is considered a choke point, which makes the Bab al-Mandab of economic and strategic interest. The Bab al-Mandab is an important corridor for geostrategic cables underneath the narrow strait passage at the Bab al-Mandab, including power cables and fibre-optic cables used for communication, which attracts the attention of intelligence services for surveillance.