Describe the trade/terrorist difficulty in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

• A. No significant disruption occurs
• B. Houthi missile and drone attacks disrupt shipping and threaten global trade
• C. Attacks only affect regional trade but not global
• D. It improves shipping efficiency

Answer: (B)

The key idea here is that Bab el-Mandeb is a critical narrow passage linking the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, through which a large portion of the world’s oil and commercial shipping must pass. When fighters or militant groups in the region use missiles and drones to target ships in this chokepoint, the immediate effect is disruption of vessel movements—vessels slow down, reroute, or pause transit. Those delays propagate through global supply chains, raising shipping costs, affecting insurance and risk, and potentially delaying shipments of energy and goods that economies worldwide rely on. Because a significant share of global trade depends on this route, such attacks threaten international trade, not just regional commerce.

So the best description is that these attacks disrupt shipping and threaten global trade. The other statements either minimize the disruption, claim only regional impact, or suggest an improvement in efficiency, none of which fit the real-world impact of destabilizing a major global chokepoint.