2LT International News

SANAA, Yemen – Yemen’s Houthi-led government has confirmed that its Prime Minister, Abdel-Aziz bin Habtour, and several other high-ranking ministers were killed in a series of major airstrikes this week, carried out by Israel Air Force pilots. 

The strikes reportedly occurred on Thursday but the deaths were not officially confirmed until a statement from the Houthi prime minister’s office was released on Saturday night. The statement announced that Prime Minister bin Habtour and “several ministers” were killed, while a number of others were wounded.

According to Israel’s Army Radio, nine leaders were killed in the attacks. The Houthis’ political bureau director, the prime minister’s chief of staff, the group’s cabinet secretary, and its justice minister, the economy and trade minister, foreign minister, agriculture minister, and public relations minister, along with the prime minister were all assassinated. “Several” more ministers were wounded in the attack, according to the Houthis statement.

In response to the assassinations, the Houthi’s Supreme Political Council swiftly named Finance Minister Mohammed Abdel-Ghani Jamil as the acting prime minister on Saturday.

The attacks targeted a gathering in the capital city of Sanaa, which has been under Houthi control since 2014. The Iran-aligned group holds sway over most of northern and western Yemen, including the capital, where the strikes took place.

This week’s attacks are a significant escalation, representing the first time Israel has directly targeted the Houthi’s top political leadership.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz and IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir reportedly monitored the attacks from the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu linked in to the situation room via a secure “red phone.”

Thursday night’s attacks were followed by a series of air strikes on Sunday which targeted ballistic missile sites and power stations in Sanaa.

Katz, according to The Jerusalem Post, said following the attacks, “after the strike of darkness, comes the strike on the firstborn,” referring to the last two biblical plagues against Egypt. “Anyone who raises a hand against Israel – their hand will be severed.”

The strikes came amid ongoing regional tensions fueled by the war in Gaza. The Houthis have been a vocal supporter of Gazans, regularly launching long-range drones and ballistic missiles towards Israel and attacking international shipping lanes in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. They have stated these operations are in solidarity with Palestinians and will continue until Israel ends its offensive in Gaza.

In its statement following the attack, the Houthi government vowed that the assassinations would not deter their campaign, reaffirming their intent to continue “their religious, moral and humanitarian stance in support of the Palestinians.”

Most of the projectiles fired toward Israel have been intercepted by Israeli and allied defenses. However, the Houthi attacks on commercial vessels have significantly disrupted global shipping, prompting a sustained military response from a U.S.-led coalition aimed at protecting the vital trade route. Earlier this year the Trump administration brokered a truce with the Houthis, and the group now only targets Israeli-ralated ships

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