TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A Houthi official has vowed to "avenge" against Israel after the Yemeni group confirmed that the Israeli airstrike earlier this week killed the prime minister of the Houthi government in the capital, Sanaa.
Prime Minister Ahmed al-Rahawi was killed in the attack on Thursday in Sanaa along with several other ministers, the Houthi said in a statement on Saturday as reported by Al Jazeera.
Al-Rahawi, who served as prime minister in the Houthi-controlled territories of the divided country, was targeted along with other Houthi government members in a workshop, the statement added.
Houthi did not specify how many other ministers were also killed in the Israeli attack.
"We will avenge and we will forge victories from the depth of wounds," said Mahdi al-Mashat, a Yemeni politician and military officer who serves as the head of the Houthi Supreme Political Council, in a later video message.
Former President Ali Abdullah Saleh's Ally
As reported by NBC News, Al-Rahawi, who has served as prime minister of the Houthi-led government since 2024, was killed in a government workshop evaluating "its activities and its performance over the past year," the statement added.
Following his death, Houthi President Mahdi Al-Mashat appointed Mohammed Ahmed Ahmed Muftah, the first deputy prime minister, to act as the acting prime minister.
The August 24 attack came three days after the Houthis fired a ballistic missile into Israel described by its military as the rebels' first cluster bomb launched since 2023.
"Yemen is struggling for the victory of the Palestinian people," al-Rahawi said following the recent Israeli attack that hit the main oil facilities of the country's main oil company, controlled by the rebels in Sanaa, as well as a power station.
The prime minister hails from the southern province of Abyan and is an ally of former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh. A Muslim man of the Shafi'i Sunni sect, he allied with the Houthi Shiite Muslims as they overran Sanaa and much of the country's north and central regions in 2014.
This triggered a protracted civil war in the country as Sunni groups received support from Arab countries coordinated by Saudi Arabia.
He was appointed as prime minister in August 2024.
Al-Rahawi is the highest-ranking Houthi official to be killed since the United States and Israel began their air and sea campaign in response to the rebel's missile and drone attacks on Israel and ships in the Red Sea.
The US and Israeli attacks killed dozens of people. One US strike in April hit a prison holding African migrants in the northern Sadaa province, killing at least 68 people and injuring 47 others.
The Israeli strike in Sanaa, claimed by the Israeli military, targeted the "terrorist regime Houthi's military targets" amid escalating tensions in the region amidst Israel's genocide in Gaza.
Israel has repeatedly targeted Houthi positions in recent months as the Yemeni group launched attacks on Israel and Western ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, in support of Gaza Palestinians.
The group has repeatedly stated that Israeli attacks will not deter their military operations.
On Wednesday, the Houthis claimed responsibility for a missile attack in southern Israel, which the country said was successfully intercepted.
Escalating Attacks
In its statement on Saturday, the Houthi presidency said that the government and its institutions would still be able to carry out their duties after the deadly Israeli attack.
"The blood of the great martyrs will be fuel and motivator to continue on the same path," he said.
Al-Mashat also said that the Houthis would "continue the path of building our armed forces and developing their capabilities".
"To our people in Gaza, our stance is firm, and will remain so until the aggression stops and the siege is lifted, regardless of the scale of the challenges," he said.
The number of people killed in the Thursday airstrikes in Sanaa is still unclear.
Citing an unnamed source, Israeli media reported on Friday that Israeli troops targeted the entire Houthi cabinet, including the prime minister and 12 other ministers.
The attack came four days after an Israeli attack in the Yemeni capital on August 24 killed 10 people and injured more than 90, according to health officials.
Israeli military said it had targeted Houthi military locations and the presidential palace in the attack.
Hamdah Salhut from Al Jazeera noted that Israel has stated it will "continue to target Houthi-affiliated targets, meaning anything that can be used militarily or politically by the rebel group" will be an Israeli military target.
"Defense Minister [Israel], Israel Katz, previously noted that Israeli attacks in Yemen were not effective enough to prevent the group from launching "attacks on the country, similar to what Israel has done with assassinations in other political groups in the region, such as Hezbollah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad," she added.
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