Still, their deaths, even if not consequential for regional stability, have sparked something in the imagination of Yemenis who had resigned themselves to wrestling with this militia indefinitely. What the strikes revealed was as telling as what they destroyed: a movement built to absorb visible losses while protecting its true centers of power.

It is easy to make something grand out of Israel’s strikes on the Houthis’ militia leadership in Sanaa. After all, a position such as “prime minister” might sound like the pinnacle of power, and the deaths of a dozen cabinet members could appear to be a devastating decapitation. However, the so-called Prime Minister Ahmed al-Rahawi and his cabinet—Houthi appointees behind a government façade—made their presence felt in the public arena, shaking hands with loyalists and negotiating with international agencies. They were the softer face of a group so suspicious of outsiders and obsessed with control that genuine power remained locked within a narrow inner circle of family and allies.

It is easy to make something grand out of Israel’s strikes on the Houthis’ militia leadership in Sanaa. After all, a position such as “prime minister” might sound like the pinnacle of power, and the deaths of a dozen cabinet members could appear to be a devastating decapitation. However, the so-called Prime Minister Ahmed al-Rahawi and his cabinet—Houthi appointees behind a government façade—made their presence felt in the public arena, shaking ha