Sanaa, Yemen – โคAugust 30, 2024 – A recent Israeli airstrike in Sanaa,โค Yemen, resulted in teh deaths โคof Ahmad Ghalib Al-Rahwi, Prime Minister โof the โขHouthi-led Government of Change and Construction, and several other cabinet ministers, according to Houthi officials.The strike, which occurred last Thursday,โฃ marks a significant โขescalation in the conflict โขbetween Israel and the Iran-backed Houthi movement.
The targeted killing of high-ranking โคHouthi leaders comes as the groupโค continues to โฃlaunch attacks against Israel and commercial shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, actions they claim are in solidarity with Palestinians amid the ongoingโ conflict in Gaza. Thisโค direct targeting of the Houthi leadership signals a potential shift in โคIsrael’sโ strategy,โข moving beyond strikes on infrastructure to directly dismantle the group’s command structure. The incident raises โคconcerns about further regional instability and the potential for retaliatoryโ attacks.
While the Israel Defense forces (IDF) has not yet issued โขa public statement regarding the strike, Israeli media outlets, citing โคanonymousโ sources, reported โฃFriday thatโค the operation was specifically aimed at the entire Houthi cabinet, with Prime Minister Al-Rahwiโฃ and 12 other ministers as targets. this follows a previous airstrike onโค August 24 โคthat reportedly โkilled 10 people and injured over 90, according to local health authorities.
Since the start โฃof the Gaza conflict between Israel and Hamas, the Houthis โฃhave consistently fired โขmissiles toward Israel and disrupted maritimeโค traffic โin vital waterways. These โฃactions have prompted a series of Israeli airstrikes on Houthi-controlled areas within Yemen. The Houthis areโ a Zaidi Shia Muslimโค group โthat controls muchโค of northern Yemenโข and has close ties to Iran.
According to Al Jazeera’s hamdah Salhut, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has stated that israel will continue to โขtarget Houthi โคassets, asserting thatโข previous strikes in Yemen have not beenโ sufficientโค to deter the group’s โขattacks. Gallant โคreportedly indicated a desire to replicate tactics usedโ against other regional groups, suchโ as โขHezbollah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad, by targeting Houthi leadership โthru assassinations. Salhut โadded that Gallant stated he “wanted to target theirโฃ leadership similar to โwhat Israel has done with assassinations within โฃother political groups across the region.”
The number of casualtiesโ resulting โขfrom Thursday’sโ airstrike remains unconfirmed. The situation remains fluid, and further developments are โขexpectedโ as the conflict continues to unfold.
