‘Growing ambitions’: Dr. Kendall on Houthis’ quest to be recognised as Yemen’s ‘legitimate’ leaders

What is the strategic logic behind the Houthis’ increasingly high-risk confrontation with Saudi Arabia? “Their experience in the past is that threats pay,” explains Dr. Elizabeth Kendall, Middle East specialist and President of Girton College, University of Cambridge. Dr. Kendall argues that the movement’s increasingly audacious military operations are not merely expressions of ideological hostility or Iranian influence, but calculated instruments of political coercion aimed at securing legitimacy, expanding territorial control and strengthening its negotiating leverage.