Hello you're very welcome to Longreads a Jacobin podcast where we look in depth of political

topics and thinkers. My name's Daniel Finn on the features editor here at Jacobin and I'll be presenting

the show. Over the last four months the Israeli war on

Gaza has spilled over into the rest of the Middle East from Lebanon to Iraq but the most dramatic example has been the link between events in Palestine

and Yemen. Anser Allah, the movement known as the Houthis, imposed a blockade

on ships going to Israel until there was a ceasefire.

In response, the US and the UK have carried out airstrikes on hoothe positions in Yemen.

The hoothes say they won't be deterred by military action.

Our guest today is Helen Lachner.

She's one of the leading experts on modern Yemen, and the author has several books about the country.

Helen has been a guest on long reads before when we spoke

about the history of Yemen in 2021. This time I spoke to her on Tuesday, February 20th.

Helen, thanks for joining us.

Before we come to the relation between what's been happening in Yemen and the Israeli war on Gaza, could you give people a short introduction to the way things

stood on the eve of October the 7th? What was the balance of forces in the long-running war between Ans Anser-Ala, the movement known as the Hutis and their opponents?

What was the position of the Saudi government?

What was its motivations? and what were the prospects of a deal that might

end the long-running conflict in Yemen?

Yeah, well thank you for bringing this up because most of these issues are now largely

forgotten with what's happened in the last few months and indeed by last October things appeared to be moving.

The official truce between the two sides had ended a year previously, but basically had been held effectively.

The direct negotiations between the Saudis and the Ansehala

...