Yemen’s Houthi rebel movement has confirmed that its self-declared Prime Minister, Ahmed Ghaleb Nasser al-Rahawi, was killed in Israeli air strikes earlier this week. The Houthis are a Yemeni rebel group involved in Yemen’s civil war since 2014, controlling large parts of the north, including the capital, Sanaa.
Several other senior officials were killed when the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) targeted Yemen’s capital, the Iran-backed group said. The IDF confirmed that it attacked a Houthi “military target” in the Sanaa area, giving no further details.
The Houthis have shared the following statement on Telegram: “The ‘Israeli’ enemy targeted the Prime Minister and a number of his fellow ministers during a routine workshop held by the government to evaluate its activities and performance over the past year. We announce the martyrdom of the fighter Ahmad Ghalib Al-Rahwi, Prime Minister in the Government of Change and Construction, along with a number of his fellow ministers last Thursday.”
The IDF is yet to publicly comment on the latest developments.
The number of casualties from Thursday’s air strike on Sanaa remains unclear. Israeli media, citing unnamed sources, reported on Friday that the Israeli military targeted the entire Houthi cabinet, including the prime minister and 12 other ministers. The strike follows earlier attacks on August 24, which killed 10 people and injured over 90, according to local health officials.
Since the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza began, the Houthis have frequently fired missiles at Israel and targeted commercial ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, claiming to act in support of the Palestinians. In response, Israel has conducted air strikes on areas controlled by the Houthis in Yemen.
Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut said that Israel has said it will keep targetting Houthi targets as, according to the Israeli defence minister Israel Katz, the strikes on Yemen weren’t enough to deter the group from launching.
As a result, Katz said “he wanted to target their leadership similar to what Israel has done with assassinations within other political groups across the region, like Hezbollah, like Hamas, like Islamic Jihad,” Salhut added.
