Aerial assault by Israel claims life of Yemen's Houthi cabinet leader in Sanaa

In a significant escalation of tensions, the prime minister of the Houthi rebel-controlled government in Yemen's capital Sanaa, Ahmed al-Rahawi, was tragically killed in an Israeli airstrike on Thursday.

Al-Rahawi, who hailed from the southern province of Abyan and was an ally to former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, was appointed as prime minister in August 2024. He was leading the Zaidi political-military movement Ansarullah, governing in the capital Sanaa, Yemen.

The Israeli military confirmed that it "precisely struck a Houthi terrorist regime military target in the area of Sanaa in Yemen" on Thursday. The attack occurred during a "routine workshop" held by the Houthi-controlled government.

The strike targeted a meeting for Houthi leaders in a villa in Beit Baws, an ancient village in southern Sanaa. The attack also claimed the lives of a number of ministers and wounded other officials, according to a statement from the Houthis.

This marks a shift from Israel's previous focus on striking the rebels' infrastructure to targeting their leaders, including senior military figures. The killing of the Houthi prime minister is considered a "serious setback" for the rebels by senior Yemen analyst Ahmed Nagi.

The Houthis had launched a campaign targeting ships in response to the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, upending shipping in the Red Sea. The escalation comes just three days after the Houthis launched a ballistic missile toward Israel, which the Israeli military described as the first cluster bomb the rebels had launched at it since 2023.

Following the Israeli strike last week, al-Rahawi had stated, "Yemen endures a lot for the victory of the Palestinian people." In response to his death, Houthi-backed President Mahdi al-Mashat vowed to escalate the rebels' attacks against Israel.

The Houthis appointed al-Rahawi's deputy, Mohamed Moftah, as acting prime minister shortly after the announcement of his death. The attack on the Red Sea, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, could potentially disrupt the flow of goods, with about $1 trillion of goods passing through the Red Sea annually.

The Trump administration had announced a deal with the Houthis in May 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 believed to be aligned with Israel. The Israeli military had no immediate comment on Saturday's announcement of the prime minister's killing.