Why does the war in Taiz look different? Super | Mahmoud al-Sharabi, the observer, points out that the war waged by the Houthi militia in Taiz has a uniqueness that goes beyond the limits of the military conflict. Yemen has witnessed many fronts, some of which were opened and others closed, and the motives and calculations of the fighting were diverse, but the conflict in Taiz continued to maintain a different character, either in the nature of the damage or in the city's ability to withstand despite the imbalance of power in favor of the Houthis. So what makes this war special? Why did military superiority fail to achieve the decisiveness it was supposed to lead to? To understand this, we must look at what Taiz represents in Yemeni social consciousness, and at a number of dualities created through history, culture and politics, and the complexity of Yemeni society is reduced to contrasting images, each side of which has its own connotations and its own values. One of these dualities is the duality of "the beginning and the home", which is actually a regional expression that expands to include several regions and districts, but in the Yemeni collective imagination it is often reduced to the dualities of Sana'a and Taiz. Despite the diversity in both regions, each of them has acquired a meaning that goes beyond geography; In some sectarian and political views, Sana'a was associated with Zaidi, while Taiz was associated with Shafi'i. Although this reduction does not reflect the true diversity of Yemeni society, it reveals entrenched perceptions that contributed to the creation of the symbolic borders between the two regions, and caused their relations to go beyond regional rivalry to deeper differences in identity and belonging. There is another duality: civil and tribal. The image of Taiz was established as a center for civilization, education, culture and individual work, in contrast to the image attached to the northern regions as strongholds of tribes and traditional customs. This is also a stereotype that does not fit the diversity in Yemeni society, but it remains influential in the way Taiz and its surroundings are viewed, and the meanings people give to each of them. From this duality comes a third duality, which is peace and war, or civil and combat. Taiz was associated in the social imagination with a peaceful city, busy with education, trade, culture and the management of life, while other tribal areas were associated with the image of a society with courage, bravery and the ability to conduct wars.