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ISRAELI AIRSTRIKE KILLS HOUTHI PRIME MINISTER IN YEMEN’S SANA’A
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CapitalTimesNews / 5 months
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- 2 min read
An Israeli airstrike on Thursday killed Ahmed al-Rahawi, the prime minister of the rebel-controlled government in Yemen’s capital, Sana’a. The strike, which targeted a meeting of Houthi leaders in a villa in Beit Baws, an ancient village in southern Sana’a, also killed a number of ministers and wounded others. The Houthi statement said the premier was targeted along with other members of his government during a “routine workshop held by the government to evaluate its activities and performance over the past year.” The strike occurred as the rebels-owned television station was broadcasting a speech for Abdul Malik al-Houthi, the secretive leader of the rebel group. Al-Rahawi was appointed as prime minister in August 2024 and hailed from the southern province of Abyan. He was an ally of former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and allied himself with the Houthis when they overran Sana’a in 2014, initiating the country’s long-running civil war. The Israeli military confirmed the strike, saying it “precisely struck a Houthi terrorist regime military target in the area of Sana’a in Yemen.” The military had no immediate comment on the prime minister’s killing. The killing of the Houthi prime minister is seen as a “serious setback” for the rebels, according to Yemen analyst Ahmed Nagi. “The escalation marks an Israeli shift from striking the rebels’ infrastructure to targeting their leaders, including senior military figures, which poses a greater threat to their command structure,” Nagi said. The Houthis have launched a campaign targeting ships in response to the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, saying they are doing so in solidarity with the Palestinians. Their attacks have upended shipping in the Red Sea, through which about $1 trillion of goods passes each year. “Yemen endures a lot for the victory of the Palestinian people,” al-Rahawi said following an Israeli strike last week that struck an oil facility owned by the country’s main oil company. The strike came three days after the Houthis launched a ballistic missile towards Israel, which its military described as the first cluster bomb the rebels had launched at it since 2023.
