In brief
The Houthi rebel movement announced the death of its Prime Minister, Ahmed Ghaleb Nasser al-Rahawi, in an Israeli airstrike that targeted a meeting in Yemen's capital, Sanaa. Several other officials were also reported killed or injured in the strike, which comes amidst ongoing tensions in the region following missile attacks and Israeli airstrikes targeting Houthi positions.
The Houthi rebel movement has confirmed that its self-proclaimed Prime Minister Ahmed Ghaleb Nasser al-Rahawi was killed in an Israeli air strike earlier this week.
The Iran-backed group said several other senior officials were killed when the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) targeted Yemen's capital, Sanaa, on Thursday.
The IDF said Rahawi and other senior Houthi officials were eliminated when Israeli fighter jets struck a gathering in the Sanaa area.
The Houthis have controlled much of north-western Yemen since 2014, after ousting the internationally recognised government from Sanaa and triggering a devastating civil war.
The Houthis said Rahawi had been killed alongside several Houthi ministers, though it did not name the others. Saudi Arabian news site al-Hadath reports the Houthis' foreign minister, as well as the ministers for justice, youth and sports, social affairs and labour, were killed.
The office of Mahdi al-Mashat, the Houthis' president, stated that several other ministers sustained moderate and serious injuries as a result of the strike, adding that Muhammad Ahmed Miftah, the Houthi deputy prime minister, would assume Rahawi's role.
Rahawi had held his post since August 2024 and was largely seen as a figurehead of the movement instead of part of the top decision-making circle that plans military operations.
The ultimate leader of the movement, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, as well as the group's defense minister and chief of staff, were not reported among the casualties in Thursday's attack.
The IDF stated late on Saturday that it had carried out the strike within a few hours of receiving intelligence concerning the gathering, and was still assessing the operation's full impact.
Since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, the Houthis have regularly launched missiles at Israel and targeted commercial ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, citing solidarity with the Palestinians. In retaliation, Israel has conducted air strikes against Houthi-held areas in Yemen.
Last week, Israel claimed to have hit Houthi targets in Sanaa in response to a missile attack that included cluster munitions.
