S8 Ep669: 11. Houthi De Facto Governance and Strategic Influence in Yemen GUEST: Bill Roggio, Edmund Fitton-Brown SUMMARY: Former Ambassador Edmund Fitton-Brown analyzes the Houthis' de facto rule over most of Yemen. While part of the Iranian axis, they maintain st
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 31 March 2026
⏱️ 12 minutes
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Summary
11. Houthi De Facto Governance and Strategic Influence in Yemen GUEST: Bill Roggio, Edmund Fitton-Brown SUMMARY: Former Ambassador Edmund Fitton-Brownanalyzes the Houthis' de facto rule over most of Yemen. While part of the Iranian axis, they maintain strategic autonomy and pursue extreme territorial claims against Saudi Arabia, including Mecca.,, The Houthis are the de facto rulers of the majority of Yemen’s population, controlling the central bank, port of Hodeidah, and government ministries,. Edmund Fitton-Brown explains that while they are part of the Iranian axis, they possess an autonomous Yemeni agenda and historic aspirations of "greatness". Negotiations remain difficult because the Houthis maintain extreme territorial claims on Saudi Arabia’s holy cities, leading Fitton-Brown to suggest that only defeating the Islamic Republic can truly neutralize the Houthi threat. (11)
1900 AL HARAM MOSQUE MECCA
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| 0:00.0 | I'm John Batchel, Bill Rajo, my colleague, he is the senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracy, |
| 0:22.5 | keeping a long war journal. And often over these last years, it's been a pleasure to listen to |
| 0:27.8 | Bill and Edmund Fitton Brown, formerly UK ambassador to Yemen, long-time UN official monitoring |
| 0:35.7 | all of this conflict throughout the Middle East, |
| 0:38.3 | and now a fellow at this Foundation for Defense of Democracies. |
| 0:42.8 | Mr. Ambassador Edmund and I go immediately to the Houthis. |
| 0:46.6 | In these last hours, the Houthis have fired a drone and a missile. |
| 0:51.8 | The fact that they're back in action is the major idea here, because |
| 0:56.7 | when they were in action in 2025, they were very effective. And the U.S. and Israel and others in the |
| 1:05.1 | Gulf found it difficult to deal with what they threatened, which was to close the Red Sea down, |
| 1:09.9 | the Gulf, the Suez Canal. |
| 1:12.1 | Now we're involved in the Straits of Hormuz, so the Balbo Menneb Strait in the Red Sea, |
| 1:20.2 | and the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf are both within, according to the map, |
| 1:25.2 | reaching distance of the Houthis. |
| 1:33.9 | Are the Houthis gaining in strength, losing in strength, entering the war at this point? |
| 1:35.6 | Is this to their advantage? |
| 1:37.0 | Who are they working for, Edmund? |
| 1:37.8 | Good evening to you. |
| 1:39.4 | Good evening, John. |
| 1:43.8 | It's very good to be back with you and always having to to talk about my old friends the hootis. |
| 1:49.8 | Who are they working for? Well, look, they, you know, they are part of the Iranian axis of resistance. To some degree, they work for the IRGC. But I think it's important to qualify that a little |
| 1:56.9 | bit. They have a Yemeni agenda, an agenda, you know, to dominate Yemen. They believe that they have, |
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