Iranian-Backed Houthis Say Their Prime Minister and Other Top Officials Are Dead in an Israeli Airstrike

The Iranian-backed Houthi group in Yemen has announced the death of its prime minister and several other ministers in an Israeli air strike this week, dealing what could be a severe blow to the anti-Western terrorist group.The announcement confirms earlier media reports appearing in Israel, where authorities are said to be still assessing the full impact of the strikes on Houthi targets near the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, on Thursday.In an Arabic-language statement Saturday that was published and translated on Al Jazeera, the Houthis said: ‘We announce the martyrdom of the mujahid Ahmed Ghaleb al-Rahawi, Prime Minister of the Government of Change and Construction, along with several of his ministers.”The Israel Defense Forces confirmed on Thursday a targeted airstrike on a military site maintained by the Houthis in the Sanaa area of Yemen, according to the Times of Israel and the AP. The reports said the assault came after a Houthi drone attack on Israel that was shot down.In a subsequent report late Friday, the Times of Israel said: “The IDF currently assesses that the entire … Houthi cabinet — including the prime minister and 12 other ministers — were likely killed in yesterday’s strike in Yemen, Channel 12 reports without citing any sources.”Euronews also is citing Yemeni and Israeli reports saying the Houthi prime minister, Ahmed al-Rahawi, was killed in the airstrikes on Sanaa. “The strikes also targeted top military officials, including the group’s defence minister,” the report said.The Euronews report cited a Yemeni outlet, Al-Jumhuriya, saying that Mr. Al-Rahawi died in his Sanaa apartment during the Israeli strikes. It quoted another Yemeni newspaper, Aden Al-Ghad, saying that several of the prime minister’s associates were killed.Euronews said Israeli officials believe the Houthi defense minister, Mohamed al-Atifi, and the chief of staff, Muhammad Abd Al-Karim al-Ghamari, were killed in the strikes, which came during a cabinet meeting. The top Houthi leader, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, is not believed to have been present.The report said Israel was still assessing whether the deaths of any other Houthi leaders can be confirmed.The Houthis, an Iranian-backed Islamist insurgent group that now controls most of Yemen, have been conducting drone and missile attacks against Western shipping in the Red Sea since the beginning of Israel’s offensive in Gaza in response to Hamas’ October 7, 2023, massacre of some 1,200 Israelis. Several drone attacks on Israel have also been staged.Israel has conducted retaliatory strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen, including an August 24 air assault that hit the presidential palace, two power stations and a fuel storage facility, killing six people, according to a Deutsche Welle report quoting Yemeni sources.In a remark this week that referenced the Book of Exodus and was widely interpreted as foreshadowing an attack on senior Houthi leaders, Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, said, “As we warned the Houthis in Yemen: After the plague of darkness comes the plague of the firstborn.”

Iranian-Backed Houthis Say Their Prime Minister and Other Top Officials Are Dead in an Israeli Airstrike

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