This is John Batchelor, conversation with Edmund Fitton Brown, former UK Ambassador to Yemen,

who are the Houthis who have fired ballistic missiles and drones and launched drone seacraft against the shipping in the Red Sea and the

Arabian Gulf. They've also fired ballistic missiles at Israel. Who are they?

Where do they come from? What is it that they want?

Edmund Fitten Brown gives us the immediate background and reminds that they control

almost a whole of the Red Sea coast of Yemen, a faraway land that is extremely

dangerous for the global shipping.

More of this tonight.

Yes, people are talking about the Huthies. They have been around for a while, but they did

emerge comparatively recently. It's essentially a 30 year old movement. It comes from within a minority community in

Yemen. It's known as Zaidi, this community, and it's Zaidi this community and it's it's Shia adjacent so they identify with other

Shia groups and other Shia countries and what they've been able to do is by becoming increasingly

strong militants and the insurgents,

the support of Iran, they've been able to

overrun a large part of Yemen.

That happened mainly in 2014 and they now control a minority of Yemen's landmass but a majority

of Yemen's population and they control most of the Red Sea coast.

In a posting at Long War Journal you tell an anecdote that is...