And while the military is busy doing a show of force, the nice old lady in the neighborhood shows up at a local party appartchik meeting featuring "prominent speakers",serves up a "special" dinner, then disappears.
Or as the tanks move into town, the road suddenly explodes with metal rods that pierce the undersides of vehicles, filling them with shrapnel. The explosive residue shows that the propellant is home made.
Truck and rail traffic slow or stop into the power centers (cities) of those who have a "thing" against the bitter clingers, resulting in massive riots and looting. As troops are called in to quell the unrest, supply lines for those subduing the resistance in the hinterland grow thin.
Two can play this game.