These comparisons provide a more accurate criterion for resilience: awareness that gives people a reason to continue, social ties that turn it into action, and material elements that prevent it from becoming a sacrifice without a horizon. In Taiz it is impossible to understand the lack of marketability of the city without the villages that support it, nor the danger of the present moment without the roads cut off from it. The countryside is not only a military belt, but also a human and economic extension of the city. Its depletion weakens its survivability. The Taiz experience reveals the error of reducing power to a conflict between two armies. Military progress does not necessarily mean subjugation of society. The winning group has to subdue the population, its institutions, schools, markets and social networks, a more complex task than controlling the territory. From this point of view, the adaptation seen today in some rural areas may be misleading. The silence following a military advance may reflect a sudden shock and a temporary imbalance in the balance of power, rather than the acceptance of the new authority. As the trauma is absorbed and society regains its psychological and social balance, the deep-rooted awareness of freedom and refusal to surrender is expected to re-emerge, creating diverse forms of civil, social and political resistance that may differ from direct armed conflict. Herein lie the limits of military victory: force may be able to impose control over a place, but it is still unable to guarantee the submission of a society that has not lost its will, but needs time to regain its ability to express it. With the latest escalation, the siege has become a test of that relationship. On October 20, the UN warned that road closures and fuel shortages threaten health, water and food in Taiz. The World Food Program has announced that it is unable to reach about 800,000 people in conflict zones in Yemen, including more than 600,000 in Taiz. When the water and hospitals are interrupted and the movement of citizens is limited, the conflict in the corridors is no longer just a confrontation between forces, but a direct pressure on the community that bears the burden of resilience. Therefore, it is correct to say that the Houthi victories in Taiz clash with the limits of military power, not that they were completely defeated at its gates. The group may be able to control more territory or tighten the screws, but converting that into social acceptance is another matter.

These comparisons provide a more accurate criterion for resilience: awareness that gives people a reason to continue, social ties that turn it into action, and material elements that prevent it from becoming a sacrifice without a horizon. In Taiz it is impossible to understand the lack of marketability of the city without the villages that support it, nor the danger of the present moment without the roads cut off from it. The countryside is not only a military belt, but also a human and economic extension of the city. Its depletion weakens its survivability. The Taiz experience reveals the error of reducing power to a conflict between two armies. Military progress does not necessarily mean subjugation of society. The winning group has to subdue the population, its institutions, schools, markets and social networks, a more complex task than controlling the territory. From this point of view, the adaptation seen today in some rural areas may be misleading. The silence following a military advance may reflect a sudden shock and a temporary imbalance in the balance of power, rather than the acceptance of the new authority. As the trauma is absorbed and society regains its psychological and social balance, the deep-rooted awareness of freedom and refusal to surrender is expected to re-emerge, creating diverse forms of civil, social and political resistance that may differ from direct armed conflict. Herein lie the limits of military victory: force may be able to impose control over a place, but it is still unable to guarantee the submission of a society that has not lost its will, but needs time to regain its ability to express it. With the latest escalation, the siege has become a test of that relationship. On October 20, the UN warned that road closures and fuel shortages threaten health, water and food in Taiz. The World Food Program has announced that it is unable to reach about 800,000 people in conflict zones in Yemen, including more than 600,000 in Taiz. When the water and hospitals are interrupted and the movement of citizens is limited, the conflict in the corridors is no longer just a confrontation between forces, but a direct pressure on the community that bears the burden of resilience. Therefore, it is correct to say that the Houthi victories in Taiz clash with the limits of military power, not that they were completely defeated at its gates. The group may be able to control more territory or tighten the screws, but converting that into social acceptance is another matter.