Houthis deny Israeli claims chief of staff wounded in Sanaa attack

A senior Israeli official said Mohammed Abd al-Karim al-Ghamari was the target of the airstrike; Iranian proxy labels report he was wounded or killed as disinformation.

By David Brummer, World Israel News

Israel reportedly targeted the Houthi chief of staff on Saturday night, amid claims he was at least wounded in the strike on the Yemeni capital, Sanaa.

Some early reports suggested that Mohammed Abd al-Karim al-Ghamari had been eliminated in the strike, although the Israel Defense Forces has not confirmed this.

A Yemeni security source told Ynet that al-Ghamari also heads the group’s missile program and had been meeting with up to nine others at a headquarters located in an upscale neighborhood of Sanaa when the strike occurred.

These other figures reportedly included Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi; Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, head of the Houthi Supreme Revolutionary Committee; and Houthi military intelligence chief Abu Ali al-Hakim.

He added that al-Ghamari, who trained in Iran, was responsible for coordinating operations between Iranian forces and the Houthis.

Although roadblocks were put up near the meeting place and ambulances were reportedly seen leaving the site shortly after the attack, Houthi official Amin al-Barai, deputy director of the group’s “moral guidance” department, said that al-Ghamari had neither been wounded nor targeted.

He accused Israel of fabricating the report to distract from Iranian attacks on strategic Israeli sites.

The official doubled down, saying al-Ghamari was “healthy and supervising the management of attacks against Israel.”

However, despite al-Barai’s protestations, Indian outlet Global Times reported that residents living near the targeted house told Chinese channel Xinhua that they saw at least 10 charred bodies at the scene.

It is impossible to know at the moment what the Houthi chief of staff’s fate was.

In the 20 months since the outbreak of hostilities, Iran’s proxies have been adept at obfuscating the fates of high-profile individuals whom Israel has targeted for elimination.