An Israeli airstrike targeting senior leaders of Yemen’s Houthi group has killed the group’s military chief of staff, Major General Muhammad Abdul Karim al-Ghamari, Associated Press reported, quoting officials on Thursday.
An official statement gave no details, BBC reported, but it did say that Ghamari and his teenage son died during what it described as the “honourable battle against the Israeli enemy”.
The strike has further escalated tensions between Israel and the Iran-backed group, even as a ceasefire continues to hold in the Gaza Strip.
The Houthis confirmed al-Ghamari’s death, saying he was killed alongside his 13-year-old son and several companions. He had been sanctioned by the United Nations for orchestrating Houthi military operations that threatened Yemen’s stability and regional security.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said al-Ghamari died from wounds sustained in the attack, adding that he had joined “his fellow members of the axis of evil in the depths of hell.” Katz described the operation as “the strike of the firstborn,” likely referring to a series of airstrikes Israel conducted on August 28 that also killed Houthi Prime Minister Ahmed al-Rahawi.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed Israel’s involvement, stating, “Another chief of staff in the line of terror chiefs who aimed to harm us was eliminated. We will reach all of them.”
According to the US Treasury, al-Ghamari had received training from Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and was responsible for military operations that targeted civilians in Yemen and carried out cross-border attacks on Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Israel’s military accused him of overseeing hundreds of missile and drone attacks on Israeli civilians, as reported by PTI.
The Houthis have announced that Major General Yusuf Hassan al-Madani, also sanctioned by the US, will succeed al-Ghamari.
