An unidentified drone struck two gas tankers at Egypt's Damietta port on July 30, Egypt's cabinet said; investigators found the cause was an unidentified drone that started a fire on board; Damietta lies near the Suez Canal, which had remained an alternative Saudi oil export route after Iran and its Houthi allies closed the Strait of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb to northbound traffic; the strike signals the conflict may be expanding to Egypt's Mediterranean coast
Egypt's 193-kilometer artificial waterway connecting the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, carrying 12-15 percent of global trade and the world's most strategically contested shipping chokepoint.
full dossier ›Egypt's president since 2014, el-Sisi governs the Arab world's most populous state through military-rooted authoritarianism, Suez Canal leverage, and consecutive IMF-backed austerity programs.
The 29-kilometre chokepoint between Yemen and Djibouti carrying 12% of global maritime trade, where Houthi attacks since 2023 halved oil transit and redrawn Asia-Europe shipping routes.
South Africa's rocky southern cape where the Atlantic meets the Indian Ocean, the primary bypass route when Suez or Hormuz close, carrying 11% of global seaborne oil.
Eight narrow passages where geography concentrates enough energy and cargo that a single closure cascades into higher freight rates and global supply disruption.