The Iran-backed Houthi militias admitted on Friday that Ibrahim Badreddin al-Houthi, the brother of Abdel-Malek al-Houthi, the leader of the insurgents, has been killed.
Although the group rarely announces the killings of its top leaders, it said on Friday that Ibrahim was assassinated, claiming the job was conducted by “the treacherous hands affiliated with the US-Israeli aggression and its tools.”
The announcement came in a statement released by the Houthi-run Interior Ministry, led by Abdul-Karim al-Houthi, Ibrahim’s uncle.
But the militias fell short on providing details on the timing and the location of the killing.
According to observers, Ibrahim was eliminated in a suspected insider's job in a dispute between the group’s different wings.
Ibrahim’s death comes following the April 2018 killing of the Houthis' political leader, negotiator and military commander Saleh al-Samad in a targeted air strike in Hodeidah.
Whether Ibrahim was killed in a coalition airstrike or betrayed by his own men, his elimination is a setback for militia leaders.
In 2015, there were rumors about the killing of Ibrahim. However, the reports were not confirmed at the time.
Ibrahim rarely appears in public, similar to Abdel-Malek’s 17 other brothers from four mothers, after three were killed during the war with the government between 2004 and 2010.
Media sources reported that Ibrahim, born in 1989, had participated in the 2014 coup in Sanaa.
In a tweet posted following the killing, the son of slain former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, Tarek, wrote, “There are disputes among senior leaders in the group.”
He also considered Ibrahim’s killing a prelude to the militia’s collapse.
