Sanaa: Top officials of Yemen’s Houthi group vowed to retaliate against Israel as the group confirmed earlier in the day that Prime Minister Ahmed al-Rahawi of the Houthi-backed government, along with several other ministers, was killed here in Israeli airstrikes on Thursday.
Earlier on Saturday, the group acknowledged in a statement that the officials were hit in Sanaa during a workshop reviewing government activities over the past year, and that several other ministers were wounded and remain in hospital, Xinhua news agency reported.
The statement did not say how many ministers were killed.
Meanwhile, Houthi-run al-Masirah TV reported that the group’s deputy prime minister, Mohammed Miftah, was appointed to run a caretaker government in Sanaa.
Following the confirmation of the deaths of the senior officials, Mahdi al-Mashat, head of the Supreme Political Council, the Houthis’ highest governing body in Sanaa, said in a speech aired by al-Masirah TV that “Israel should await dark days.”
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According to Houthi-run Saba news agency, the Houthi Defence Minister Mohammed Nasser al-Atifi said forces “are ready at all levels to confront” Israel, whereas Mohammed Abdulkarim al-Gumari, Houthi military chief of staff, said “the Israeli aggression on civilian sites will not pass without punishment.”
The group had initially denied casualties from Thursday’s airstrikes, despite reports of al-Rahawi’s death.
Israel said its air force carried out a “significant operation” targeting a meeting of the Houthi cabinet in Sanaa while its members were watching a speech by the group’s leader, Abdulmalik al-Houthi, on the Gaza war. A Houthi source said Israeli warplanes launched 10 airstrikes on a building in southern Sanaa where the meeting was being held.
On Saturday, Iran, which is believed to have close ties with the Houthis, strongly condemned the recent Israeli airstrikes against the group.
The Houthis, who control much of northern Yemen, have carried out drone and missile attacks on Israel since November 2023 in what they describe as showing solidarity with Palestinians during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Most of the projectiles have been intercepted by Israel.
Israel has responded with strikes on Houthi-held areas, targeting airports, power stations and ports in Sanaa and the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, with Thursday’s airstrikes believed to have dealt the most serious blow to the group.
The Houthis seized Sanaa in 2014, forcing the internationally-recognized Yemeni government into exile in Aden. Since then, the group has controlled much of northern Yemen, including Sanaa and Hodeidah, and set up an unrecognized government in the capital.
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