‘Growing ambitions’: Dr. Kendall on Houthis’ quest to be recognised as Yemen’s ‘legitimate' leaders

Home Middle East To display this content from YouTube, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement. One of your browser extensions seems to be blocking the video player from loading. To watch this content, you may need to disable it on this site. Cover image: © France 24 12:25 Issued on: 14/10/2026 - 19:18Modified: 14/10/2026 - 19:22 What is the strategic logic behind the Houthis’ increasingly high-risk confrontation with Saudi Arabia? “Their experience in the past is that threats pay,” explains Dr. Elizabeth Kendall, Middle East specialist and President of Girton College, University of Cambridge. Dr. Kendall argues that the movement’s increasingly audacious military operations are not merely expressions of ideological hostility or Iranian influence, but calculated instruments of political coercion aimed at securing legitimacy, expanding territorial control and strengthening its negotiating leverage. Keywords for this article