Houthi insurgents claim that an Israeli airstrike in Yemen's capital resulted in the death of their prime minister.
In a significant development, Ahmed al-Rahawi, the Houthi prime minister of the rebel-controlled government in Yemen's capital Sanaa, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Thursday. The attack targeted a villa in Beit Baws, an ancient village in southern Sanaa, where a meeting for Houthi leaders was underway.
The Israeli military stated that it "precisely struck a Houthi terrorist regime military target in the area of Sanaa in Yemen" on Thursday. However, the Israeli military has not commented on Saturday's announcement of the prime minister's killing.
Al-Rahawi, an ally to former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, was appointed as prime minister in August 2024. His government was tasked with running the day-to-day civilian affairs in Sanaa and other Houthi-held areas. The airstrike on Thursday also claimed the lives of several ministers and wounded other ministers and officials.
The Houthi prime minister's death is considered a "serious setback" for the rebels by senior Yemen analyst Ahmed Nagi. The killing comes three days after the Houthis launched a ballistic missile toward Israel, which is the first cluster bomb the rebels had launched at Israel since 2023.
The escalation marks an Israeli shift from striking the rebels' infrastructure to targeting their leaders, including senior military figures. The Houthis' attacks over the past two years have upended shipping in the Red Sea, through which about $1 trillion of goods pass each year. In response, the Houthis launched a campaign targeting ships, claiming they were doing so in solidarity with the Palestinians.
The U.S. and Israeli strikes, including one in April that hit a prison holding African migrants in the northern Sadaa province, have killed dozens of people. The strike on the Houthi government's oil facility and power plant is likely to further exacerbate the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, which is already facing one of the world's worst famines.
The killing of al-Rahawi is likely to escalate tensions in the region, with the Houthis vowing to retaliate. The international community, including the United Nations, has called for an immediate de-escalation of the conflict and a return to peace talks.
In May, the Trump administration announced a deal with the Houthis to end the airstrikes in return for an end to attacks on shipping, but the rebels said the agreement did not include halting attacks on targets they believed were aligned with Israel. It remains to be seen how this latest development will affect the fragile peace process in Yemen.
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