1、HOW IRAN HELPED HOUTHISEXPAND THEIR REACHTHOMAS JUNEAUAUGUST 23,2021COMMENTARYSince 2015,when Saudi Arabia launched its intervention in Yemen,the Houthi movement has deepened its ties withIran and grown more powerful on the ground.As a result,the impact of the Iranian-Houthi partnership will increas
2、inglybe felt beyond Yemens borders.As I have argued elsewhere,the Houthis are now developing their own foreign policy,forming direct ties with other Iranian partners in the region and presenting a growing risk to rivals like Saudi Arabiaand,eventually,Israel.In recent years,some of the most alarmist
3、 coverage of the Houthi movement has presented thegroup in simplistic terms as an Iranian proxy inside Yemen.In fact,the partnership is more complex than apatron-proxy one,but it still carries real risks for regional security.A Mutually Beneficial PartnershipWhile the Houthi movement emerged as an i
4、nsurgency in northwestern Yemen in the 1980s and 1990s,it most likelybegan receiving Iranian support around 2009.Yet this initial support was marginal,as Yemen at the time was far froman important priority for Iran.Relations ramped up after 2011 as street protests and elite infighting caused an alre
