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Look at the map of the Middle East, zoomed way, way out. Yemen (bottom in the green) seems like a place that should have no interest in dealing with Israel. In many ways, it’s in an entirely different part of the world.

As we hear today from Dr. Sarah Feuer, that map can be misleading. Yemen, and the Houthis who now rule most of it, are religiously and culturally deeply embedded in the world we inhabit. But they are also, in many ways, the “enemy” about which we know the least.

Today and next week, we’ll try to change that.

Today, we’ll cover the background issues:

* The basic geography and demographic makeup of the country

* Key points along Yemen’s political history. What do we need to know to make sense of the current state of affairs “down there”?

* The origin story of the Houthis. What does the name mean? Are they a party, a religious movement, an organization?

* And, of course, the link between the Houthis and Iran – how close is this relationship? Does it make sense to think of the Houthis as an Iranian proxy?

Next week, having focused today on Yemen writ large and the background of the Houthis, we will focus on their ideology, their military capabilities, and the threat they do and do not pose to Israel.

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Dr. Sarah J. Feuer was the Rosenbloom Family Fellow in the Washington Institute's Geduld Program on Arab Politics.

Her 2018 book, Regulating Islam: Religion and the State in Contemporary Morocco and Tunisia, was published by Cambridge University Press. An expert on politics and religion across North Africa, Feuer was previously a senior fellow and a Soref fellow at the Institute, where she authored numerous policy papers and monographs covering developments across the Maghreb and religion-state dynamics in the Arab world more generally.

Her 2019 study, Course Correction: The Muslim World League, Saudi Arabia's Export of Islam, and Implications for U.S. Policy, examined the shifting contours of Saudi religious export in recent years.

The link at the top of this posting will take free subscribers to an excerpted portion of today’s conversation.

For paid subscribers, the link at the top will take you to the full conversation; below, paid subscribers will also find a transcript for those who prefer to read, as always.