Why Houthis Are Holding Back in the Mideast War

A Powder Keg on Pause

Picture this: The Middle East is a tinderbox. Iran faces off against the US and Israel. Proxies everywhere are itching for action. Yet Yemen's Houthis—Iran's key allies with a stockpile of game-changing rockets—sit it out. They're lobbing threats and signals, but no all-out plunge into the fray. Why? It's not cowardice. It's cold calculation.

Recent US airstrikes hammered Houthi positions in Yemen, as covered on CBS News' Face the Nation. Secretary of State Marco Rubio...