Yemen sources reveal Israeli airstrikes also killed Houthi Prime Minister

The strike on al-Rahawi appeared separate from an earlier Israeli attack on Thursday that reportedly targeted a high-level Houthi gathering in Sanaa.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Yemeni media reported Friday that the prime minister of the Iran-backed Houthi movement was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the capital, Sanaa.

According to Al-Jumhuriya, an anti-Houthi channel broadcasting from Aden, Ahmed al-Rahawi was struck while inside an apartment in the Bayt Baws neighborhood.

The Aden Al-Ghad newspaper published a similar account, saying he died along with several close associates.

Al-Rahawi had served in the largely administrative role of prime minister for about a year within the Houthis’ government, which is not recognized by the international community.

The strike on al-Rahawi appeared separate from an earlier Israeli attack on Thursday that reportedly targeted a high-level Houthi gathering in Sanaa.

Yemeni outlets described it as a type of cabinet meeting attended by both ministers and military leaders.

Among those believed to have been killed were the Houthis’ defense minister, Mohamed al-Atifi, and chief of staff Muhammad Abd al-Karim al-Ghamari, who had already been wounded in a previous Israeli strike.

Israel’s military confirmed it had struck what it called a Houthi “terrorist regime military target” in the Sanaa area. An Israeli security official told Yemeni media the aim was to hit senior leadership, adding, “We estimate that we succeeded.”

Thursday’s operation marked a significant escalation. By striking at the top of the Houthi leadership, Israel signaled a shift from previous attacks focused largely on infrastructure such as ports, power plants, and fuel depots tied to the group’s missile program.

The latest strike, four days after Israeli jets hit several Houthi sites including a suspected fuel facility, highlighted a new effort to weaken the command structure of an Iranian proxy long considered difficult to penetrate.

Professor Uzi Rabi, director of the program for Regional Cooperation at the Moshe Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University, said the operation showed an upgraded capability.

“This is a step up, that’s clear. It reflects, first of all, an intelligence penetration. This means there is progress; the step up is likely on both the intelligence and operational levels,” he told JNS.

Rabi added that the strike was intended to have a psychological effect on the Houthi leadership, comparing it to Israel’s decapitation campaign against Hezbollah commanders in 2024.