Houthis say prime minister is killed in Israeli attack

Jerusalem -- Israel killed the prime minister of the Houthi-controlled government in Yemen, Ahmed al-Rahawi, in an attack this past week that hit the capital, Sanaa, a Houthi spokesperson said Saturday. He was the most senior official in the Iranian-backed militant group to be killed in the conflict so far.

In a statement, the Houthi government said that a number of al-Rahawi's colleagues were also killed and wounded, without naming them. It said Israel had attacked while they had gathered in Sanaa for a government workshop Thursday afternoon.

The killing of al-Rahawi was unlikely to cripple the Houthis, given that his role in the group was largely symbolic and power is concentrated in the hands of its leader, Abdul Malik al-Houthi. Yet it marked an escalation in Israel's efforts to stop Houthi missile attacks.

Soon after the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that ignited the war in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis began firing missiles and drones at Israeli cities. The group, which has ruled much of northwestern Yemen since a civil war a decade ago, says its attacks are in solidarity with Hamas and its Palestinian allies.

Houthi fighters have also fired on ships in the Red Sea in what they call an effort to enforce a blockade on Israel, even though many of the boats targeted had no clear ties to the country. The attacks have disrupted global trade, often forcing ships to reroute.

Israel has responded by sending fighter jets hundreds of miles to Yemen to bombard power stations and ports in Houthi-controlled areas. But the sorties failed to quell the Houthis' attacks, which the group says will continue until Israel ends its military campaign in Gaza.

Like Hamas, the Houthis are backed by Iran, Israel's regional archnemesis. During the war in Gaza, Israel has fought several Iranian-supported armed groups around the Middle East, and engaged in 12 days of direct fighting with Iran in June.

The Houthi ideology is reflected in the slogan on the group's flag: "God is great, death to America, death to Israel, curse the Jews, victory to Islam." Once a group of poorly organized rebels, the Houthis now rule over most of Yemen's population.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz had threatened to assassinate senior Houthi officials before -- including its leader al-Houthi -- should they continue firing at Israel. But Israel had yet to successfully carry that out until this past week.

The Houthi government confirmed al-Rahawi's death in a statement circulated on its official channels Saturday. The statement vowed that the militant group would continue "our noble stance of supporting and aiding the people of Gaza." The group quickly announced that Mohammad al-Muftah, a deputy to al-Rahawi, had been appointed acting prime minister.

A veteran Houthi official, al-Rahawi had several roles in local government before being named to the powerful Supreme Political Council in 2019.

Under the Biden administration, a U.S.-led multinational coalition began its own campaign against the Houthis in Yemen in an effort to clamp down on their attacks on international shipping. President Donald Trump escalated that campaign in mid-March, pledging that the Houthis would be "completely annihilated."

But in May, Trump announced the end of U.S. bombings, claiming that the Houthis "don't want to fight anymore."

Yemen, located at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, has endured a bloody civil war since 2014 that led to one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. Analysts say that Yemeni civilians have often paid the price for Israeli attacks, which have driven up the price of fuel and basic goods in the beleaguered country.