The Houthi movement's ability to withstand sustained military pressure from the United States and Israel—a feat few regional powers have managed—is not an accident. This article explains why conventional Western methods of high-tech warfare and espionage consistently fail in Yemen. It reveals that the group's immunity stems from a combination of two unique defenses: a battle-hardened intelligence apparatus born from decades of conflict, and a closed, tribal society that is fundamentally impenetrable to the infiltration tactics that work so effectively elsewhere.
