CEP Senior Advisor Edmund Fitton-Brown writes: "As British Ambassador to Yemen from 2015 to 2017, and later in counterterrorism roles at the UN, I watched with growing frustration as Washington, despite its early clarity, lost the plot in Yemen – with consequences that are now rippling across the Red Sea and into Israel.

In 2014, the international community got it right. UN Security Council Resolution 2140 blamed the right culprits: former President Ali Abdullah Saleh and the Houthi leadership. The Houthis, a small sectarian militia allied with Saleh, were trying to hijack Yemen’s democratic transition – and the world recognized that. When…"

Terrorism expert Hans-Jakob Schindler from the Counter Extremism Project draws attention to another risk. "Federal police officers could now be the last barrier to preventing attacks," said Schindler in an interview with this editorial team. Large train stations and airports are always potential targets for terrorists and extremists, according to the expert: "Because a lot of people often come together there. That's why there are special security measures for train stations." Any relocation of personnel from such places to the borders is therefore risky.

In this episode, Daniel J. Levy speaks with Edmund Fitton-Brown, former UK Ambassador to Yemen, about the evolving Houthi threat and its implications for Israel, the Gulf states, and the broader regional balance of power. They explore the role of the Houthis in Iran’s attempts to project power in the region and in ongoing talks about the Iranian nuclear programme.

Edmund Fitton-Brown is a veteran British diplomat who served as the UK’s Ambassador to Yemen from 2015 to 2017 and later coordinated UN expert panels on ISIL, Al-Qaeda, and the Taliban. He holds advisory or fellowship positions with the Counter Extremism Project, the Middle East Institute, The Soufan Center and New America.

According to Hans-Jakob Schindler of the research organization "Counter Extremism Project," Qaradawi was "generally regarded as the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood."

To examine the causes of this threatening dynamic, the European Institute for Counter-Terrorism and Conflict Prevention (EICTP) hosted a meeting at the Novotel Berlin Mitte on the morning of June 3. The "European Trend Report on Terrorism" was presented in the Potsdamer Platz conference room. Numerous security experts, analysts, and risk managers listened intently to the presentations of Hans-Jakob Schindler, Senior Director of the Counter Extremism Project, and Austrian terrorism researcher Dr. Nicolas Stockhammer. The security policy panel was moderated by retired Colonel Ralph Thiele, who also regularly contributes  to Cicero .

CEP Senior Director Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler interviewed: "Extremism expert Hans-Jakob Schindler says, while the perpetrator of the German Christmas market attack had been uniquely radicalised, they have been becoming more common since COVID-19."

CEP Senior Advisor Ian Acheson writes: "Robert Jenrick is continuing to annoy all the right people. This weekend he turned his focus to the appalling attacks on front line prison staff, including by terrorists, that have left dozens of wounded, maimed and traumatised officers struggling to contain the threat in our High Security prisons.

Jenrick asked me to produce a rapid analysis of the current terror threat drawing on my experience as a former government reviewer of the UK threat and my work around the world on managing highly dangerous people. While this paper could not have access to the ongoing official review, I did think I had enough expertise to add to the debate. The criminal justice commentariat were apoplectic. Why?"

CEP Senior Advisor Ian Acheson: "I was asked by the shadow justice secretary to undertake a rapid review of the current threat to prison officers in general and those maimed by terrorists in particular. I was given no terms of reference, no steer and no interference at all in my full analysis which will be published online this afternoon. Jenrick is a politician for a party I used to be part of. Notwithstanding the politics, I believe him to be sincere in his concern about public servants who are closer to being murdered on duty by fanatics than at any time in the last 25 years."