Yemen’s Huthi rebels said Saturday their prime minister had been killed in an Israeli air strike earlier this week, the most senior official known to have died in a series of attacks during the Gaza war.
An Israeli army statement later Saturday confirmed the strike and that it had killed Ahmed Ghaleb Nasser Al-Rahawi.
The Iran-backed Huthis, who have launched repeated drone and missile attacks on Israel since the Gaza war erupted in October 2023, vowed to avenge his death.
Rahawi, who was appointed last year, was killed along with other officials during the attack Thursday, the rebels said.
Israel has been striking Huthi targets for months in response to the rebels’ attacks, which they say are in support of the Palestinians in Gaza.
“We announce the martyrdom of the fighter Ahmed Ghaleb Nasser Al-Rahawi… along with several of his ministerial colleagues, as they were targeted by the treacherous Israeli criminal enemy,” a Huthi statement said.
“Others among their companions were injured with moderate to serious wounds and are receiving medical care since Thursday afternoon,” it added.
On Thursday, Israeli forces had said they “struck a Huthi terrorist regime military target”. Unsourced Yemeni media reports of Rahawi’s death were not confirmed at the time.
But on Saturday, Israel’s military said in a statement: “Among the senior officials present at the site during the strike was the Huthi Prime Minister, Ahmed Al-Rahawi, who was eliminated in the strike, along with additional senior officials.”
– Miftah takes over –
The Huthis called Thursday’s gathering “a routine workshop organised by the government to evaluate its activities and performance over the past year”.
The head of the rebels’ supreme political council, Mehdi al-Mashat, vowed to avenge the killings.
“We promise to God, to the dear Yemeni people and the families of the martyrs and wounded that we will take revenge,” Mashat said in a video message posted on Telegram.
He warned foreign companies to leave Israel “before it’s too late”.
US-based Yemen analyst Mohammed Al Basha noted that previously, the Israelis had targeted infrastructure such as ports and power stations.
“The strikes indicate a shift in Israeli operational focus away from transportation and energy infrastructure toward targeted assassinations of high-value personnel,” Basha, author of the Basha Report, told AFP.
It is “an escalation that, regardless of the final casualty count, is likely to shake the Huthi leadership at its core”, he added.
“This operation bears the hallmarks of a signals intelligence–driven strike, and it is possible that additional senior Huthi leaders were en route to the location.”
Rahawi had made a public appearance on Wednesday, attending an event organised by the Huthi endowments ministry in Sanaa.
He was from the southern province of Abyan, which is not part of the large swathes of Yemen under Huthi control.
The rebels have traditionally reserved the premiership for southerners in an attempt to win hearts and minds in the south.
Deputy prime minister Mohammed Ahmed Miftah was appointed as interim prime minister following Rahawi’s death, the Huthis announced separately.
The rebel group is part of Iran’s “axis of resistance”, an anti-Israel alliance.
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© Agence France-Presse
