Bab Iskender

Bab-el-Mandeb area with description

The Bab Iskender (Arabic: باب اسكندر‎ Iskander's Strait, also variously known as the Eastern strait, the small strait, the narrow pass or the small pass, is the eastern section 2 miles (3.2 km) wide and 16 fathoms (29 m) of the Bab-el-Mandeb straits, which separates Ras Menheli, Yemen, on the Arabian Peninsula and Ras Siyyan, Djibouti, on the Horn of Africa. The Yemeni island of Perim divides the strait into two channels, Bab Iskender and Dact-el-Mayun respectively.[1]

The western section of the straits, Dact-el-Mayun, (also known as the Western strait, the large strait, the large pass or the wide pass) has a width of about 16 miles (26 km) and a depth of 170 fathoms (310 m).[1] The straits are about 20 miles (32 km) wide in total.

Near the African coast lies a group of smaller islands known as the Seven Brothers.

References

  1. 1 2 William James Lloyd Wharton, John Phillips (1900), The Red Sea and Gulf of Aden Pilot page 230. Great Britain Hydrographic Offic.

Coordinates: 12°40′N 43°27′E / 12.667°N 43.450°E / 12.667; 43.450

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