There’s something rather jarring — though not entirely unfamiliar — about a U.S. president lauding the bravery of a force his military has just spent weeks trying to pulverize. But such is the diplomatic theatre of Donald Trump, who earlier this month praised Yemen’s Houthi fighters for their “great capacity to withstand punishment” even as he announced an unexpected ceasefire agreement with the group.

A pact brokered through Omani mediation, the deal appears on its face to pause the dramatic escalation of U.S. military strikes and Houthi maritime assaults in the Red Sea. The big question, however, is whether this ceasefire is anything more than a tactical timeout in a war that now radiates well beyond Yemen’s borders.

For nearly a decade, the Houthis have not just survived but entrenched themselves in Yemen’s northern highlands, fending off a combined Saudi-Emirati blitzkrieg backed — militarily and politically — by Washington. In this latest chapter, it was Operation Rough Rider, a costly American campaign initiated in mid-March, that aimed to dislodge or at least deter the Iran-backed movement from targeting international shipping and American naval assets. The result? Seven downed U.S. drones, two lost fighter jets, over $1 billion sunk into the sand —........

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