Israeli Strike Kills Houthi Prime Minister and Senior Officials in Sanaa

Yemen – The Houthi movement in Yemen has confirmed that its self-declared Prime Minister, Ahmed Ghaleb Nasser al-Rahawi, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Thursday in the capital, Sanaa. Several senior Houthi ministers also died in the strike, though not all names were revealed. Saudi outlet Al-Hadath reported the deaths of the Houthis’ foreign, justice, youth and sports, social affairs, and labour ministers.

The office of Houthi president Mahdi al-Mashat said other ministers were injured and announced that Deputy Prime Minister Muhammad Ahmed Miftah would replace Rahawi. Rahawi, who took the role in August 2024, was largely viewed as a figurehead rather than a key strategist.

The Israel Defense Forces confirmed the attack, saying Rahawi and other senior officials were “eliminated” within hours of receiving intelligence. Israel has increased strikes on Houthi-held areas in response to missile and drone attacks by the group, which has targeted Israel and commercial shipping routes since the war in Gaza began.

Houthi warns of attacks on any ship cooperating with Israel

Houthi rebels from Yemen’s Ansar Allah movement will carry out strikes on the vessels belonging to all companies working with Israeli ports within the reach of their weapons, the movement’s military spokesman Yahya Saree said.

“Yemen’s armed forces have made a decision to activate their military operations in support [of Palestinians] and begin implementing Phase Four of its naval blockade of the adversary, targeting all ships belonging to any company that deals with Israeli ports, regardless of nationality or destination and anywhere they can be reached by our missiles and drones,” the spokesman said as cited by the Houthi-controlled television channel Al Masirah.