“With the fall of the Assad regime in Syria and Hezbollah in Lebanon defeated and increasingly isolated, attention turns to the Houthis in Yemen. Perhaps the strongest remaining Iranian proxy force in the region, the Houthis are certainly the most active in terms of their attacks on Israel and also on international shipping in the Red Sea… Ari Heistein is an advisor to Israeli startups seeking to sell to the U.S. federal government, a consultant on issues relating to Yemen, and a nonresident fellow at the Counter Extremism Project.”

CEP Senior Advisor Edmund Fitton-Brown was interviewed on BBC News World Service's Newsday, discussed the Houthis in Yemen and a new report from CEP that discusses the group's security and intelligence service, as well as its humanitarian aid diversion. 

"The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) on Thursday published a report delving into the unique brutality of the Yemen Houthi intelligence services.

The report, which The Jerusalem Post exclusively obtaining a copy of the report prior to its publication, names some of the top Yemen Houthis intelligence officials which could also lead to new sanctions against some of those individuals."

CEP Non-Resident Fellow Ari Heistein made an appearance on “The WarCast” podcast from War On The Rocks to discuss recent events in Yemen.

CEP Non-Resident Fellow Ari Heistein writes: "It has been widely acknowledged that the Houthi attacks against Israel and international shipping that followed Hamas’s deadly October 7th attacks last year, were used to defuse a domestic crisis. Shortly before that terrible day, the Houthis were facing unprecedented opposition at home due to growing resentment over their misrule. That changed in the aftermath of the October 7 attacks, and Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. Since the Houthis started bombarding Israel and international shipping one year ago, the group has promoted massive public rallies in Yemen to celebrate its “resistance” throughout the territory under their control. It has been generally assumed that the Houthi offensive had redirected public anger, but recent public opinion polls tell a different story."