An Israeli airstrike targeting the top leaders of Yemen's Houthi militants in August killed the chief of staff of its military, officials said Thursday, further escalating tensions between the militias and Israel even as a ceasefire holds in the Gaza Strip.
The Houthis have acknowledged the killing of Maj. Gen. Muhammad Abdul Karim al-Ghamari, who had been sanctioned by the United Nations over his role in the country's decadelong war.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said al-Ghamari died of wounds he suffered in the attack and had joined “his fellow members of the axis of evil in the depths of hell.”
Katz referred to the strike as “the strike of the firstborn,” likely a reference to a series of strikes Israel conducted on Aug. 28. That attack killed Ahmed al-Rahawi, prime minister in the Houthis’ illegal government, nd others. However, analysts suggested al-Ghamari may have been wounded in a different attack targeting the group.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also acknowledged Israel killing al-Ghamari.
“Another chief of staff in the line of terror chiefs who aimed to harm us was eliminated," Netanyahu said. “We will reach all of them.”
In a statement carried by the Houthi-controlled SABA news agency, the militants said al-Ghamari had been killed alongside his 13-year-old son Hussain and “several of his companions.” It did not elaborate on the date of the strike, nor did it identify the others killed in the strike.
The United Nations, in sanctioning al-Ghamari, described him as playing “the leading role in orchestrating the Houthis’ military efforts that are directly threatening the peace, security and stability of Yemen, as well as cross-border attacks against Saudi Arabia.”
The US Treasury also said al-Ghamari was “responsible for orchestrating attacks by Houthi forces impacting Yemeni civilians” in sanctioning him in 2021. It described him as having received training from Lebanon's Hezbollah group and Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
“As the head of the general staff of the Houthi armed forces, the most senior commander within the Houthi military leadership structure, al-Ghamari is directly responsible for overseeing Houthi military operations that have destroyed civilian infrastructure and Yemen’s neighbors,” the Treasury said at the time.
The Israel military described al-Ghamari as being “responsible for hundreds of missiles and (drone) attacks launched toward Israeli civilians and the state of Israel.”
Al-Ghamari also led a Houthi offensive targeting Yemen's energy-rich Marib province.
The Treasury listed his year of birth as either 1979 or 1984 at the time of his sanctioning. His other survivors weren't immediately known.
Another SABA statement said al-Ghamari would be replaced by Maj. Gen. Youssef Hassan al-Madani. He had been sanctioned at the same time as al-Ghamari by the US over his work as “a prominent Houthi military leader” who commanded the militants’ fifth military zone, including the key Red Sea port city of Hodeidah.
It remains unclear how the Houthis will respond. The militants gained international prominence during the Israel-Hamas war over its attacks, which they said were aimed at forcing Israel to stop fighting. Since the ceasefire began Oct. 10, there has not been a Houthi attack targeting either Israel or shipping.
The Houthi campaign against shipping has killed at least nine mariners and seen four ships sunk. It upended shipping in the Red Sea, through which about $1 trillion of goods passed each year before the war. The militants' most recent attack hit the Dutch-flagged cargo ship Minervagracht on Sept. 29, killing one crew member on board and wounding another.
The Houthis meanwhile have taken dozens of workers at UN agencies and other aid groups as prisoners, alleging without evidence they were spies — something fiercely denied by the world body and others.
“Among the most dangerous espionage cells that became active are those affiliated with organizations working in the humanitarian field, notably the World Food Program and UNICEF,” claimed the Houthi's leader, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, in a televised speech Thursday without offering evidence.
UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric forcefully rejected al-Houthi's remarks.
“The accusations are extremely disturbing,” he said. “They’re extremely worrying coming from the leadership. And accusations, calling UN staff spies or, as we’ve seen in other contexts, calling them terrorists — all that does is it puts the lives of UN staff everywhere at risk, and it’s unacceptable.”
