The Houthis are using medieval tactics in Taiz, besieging close to a million people and starving them of food and water to force a submission. The global hype they gained after 2023 for supposedly standing by Gaza will dissipate when the world sees they are copying Israeli siege tactics on their fellow Yemenis. So far, the war in Yemen has largely evaded the fate of senselessly bloody civil wars we've seen in Syria, Sudan and Congo. This second siege of Taiz may be a turning point in the war, making the rules of engagement that have more or less governed it for 12 years untenable. It's almost ironic that the Houthis, who emerged from an insurgency, don't know that extreme cruelty breeds armed resistance and a violent insurgency, which can take down states, let alone an armed group still scrambling to consolidate.