Rebellious groups demand retribution following the demise of their leader, the Prime Minister
In a significant development, Ahmad Ghaleb al-Rahwi, the first minister of the Houthis, was killed in Israeli airstrikes on Sanaa on Thursday. The president of the Houthis who responded to this tragedy is Mahdi al-Mashat.
The Israeli army confirmed the killing of al-Rahwi and other senior officials in a strike against a facility in Yemen. Several of his colleagues were injured, some seriously, in the airstrikes. The Houthis have accused Israel of targeting areas under their control, including western ports and the airport in Sanaa.
Israel has been conducting strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen for months in response to missile and drone attacks by the rebels against Israeli territory. This escalation in violence comes amidst the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic movement Hamas, which started in October 2023.
The Hamas movement described the airstrikes that killed Houthi leaders as a heinous crime. The political office of the Houthis warned that they would not deviate from the fight against the 'American-Zionist project' and would escalate until the aggression stops and the Israeli blockade on Gaza is lifted.
Mehdi al-Mashat, head of the Supreme Political Council, has threatened Israel, saying "Dark days await you". He also called on all foreign societies present in Israel to leave before it's too late.
Mohammed Ahmad Mouftah has been appointed as the interim prime minister to succeed al-Rahwi. The Yemeni rebels control large parts of the country at war since 2014, including Sanaa, where they have established their political institutions. The internationally recognized Yemeni government, driven out of Sanaa, has its seat in Aden, the major city of the South.
In May, the Houthis agreed to a ceasefire with the United States, which ended months of American bombing in Yemen in exchange for a halt to their attacks on ships in the strategically important waterway for global trade. However, the Houthis resumed their attacks on ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden in July, accusing them of having links with Israel.
The war in Yemen has resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths and has plunged this poorest country in the Arabian Peninsula into one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, warned that the Houthi terrorist regime would pay a heavy price for its aggression against Israel.
In response to the death of al-Rahwi, the Houthis claimed a missile strike against Israel, which was intercepted according to the Israeli army, a few days after Israeli air raids last Sunday against the presidential palace and a fuel storage site in Sanaa that had killed 10 people according to the insurgents. The rebels had arrested dozens of people in Sanaa, Amran (North), and Dhamar (Southwest) on suspicion of collaborating with Israel.
The strike against the facility was made possible through the exploitation of an intelligence opportunity and a rapid operational cycle. The death of al-Rahwi is the highest-profile death of a Houthi political figure in such raids since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic movement Hamas in October 2023.
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