["The Islamic republic directly supports the Houthis in Yemen" Ali
Shirazi - representative of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in the Quds
Force of the Revolutionary Guards - Defa Press news agency quoted by Middle
East Monitor Wednesday, 28 January 2015 15:09
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/16635-iranian-official-likens-yemens-houthis-to-hezbollah-in-lebanon
]

Houthis attempting to control Yemen’s Bab El-Mandeb strait: source
Former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi refuses to withdraw resignation
Arafat Madabish Asharq Al-Awsat Sunday, 1 Feb, 2015
http://www.aawsat.net/2015/02/article55341019

Sana’a, Asharq Al-Awsat—Recent advances by Yemen’s Houthi movement are part
of an attempt to take control of the strategic Bab El-Mandeb strait off the
Yemeni coast, military sources in the country said on Saturday.

This comes as three members of the group and three military personnel were
killed on Friday evening as the armed Houthis attempted an attack on the
Al-Khoukha military camp just south of the coastal city of Al-Hudaydah,
close to the strategic waterway.

The Bab El-Mandeb, which connects the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean via
the Red Sea and Suez Canal, is one of the most important maritime corridors
in the world, through which most of Yemen’s oil exports pass on their way to
global markets.

Retired Yemeni brigadier-general Mohsen Khasrouf told Asharq Al-Awsat the
group “has its eyes firmly on the Bab El-Mandeb strait” and that Friday
night’s attack represented “the first step on the road to taking control” of
the waterway for the Houthis and former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Many in Yemen believe Saleh has been aiding the Houthis’ recent efforts to
strengthen their hold over swaths of Yemen, which have seen them take
control of the capital Sana’a and other parts of the country as well as
military and government buildings and facilities.

Khasrouf said Saleh, a former army officer, still enjoyed great popularity
within the Yemeni military, which he said the Houthis were now clearly
attempting to control.

“The Bab El-Mandeb strait is not just related to Yemen’s security but to the
security of the whole region,” Khasrouf said, adding that Iran was acting
through the Houthis and attempting to gain control of the strait, which in
addition to Iranian control of the strait of Hormuz, would give the Islamic
Republic a strategic maritime advantage on the Arabian Peninsula’s
surrounding waterways.

The Houthis deny claims by the Yemeni government and others that their
fighters have been trained and equipped by Tehran.

Meanwhile, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, who resigned as president last week when
armed Houthi rebels surrounded his home in the capital, has been meeting
with representatives from the group, who continue to surround his residence.
Hadi said on Saturday he would not go back on his decision to resign,
despite pressure from allies in Yemen, the region and the West.