Houthis condemn killing of Ahmed al-Rahawi, other government ministers in Israeli attack on Yemen’s capital this week.
Published On 30 Aug 2025
A Houthi official has vowed “vengeance” against Israel after the Yemeni group confirmed that an Israeli air strike earlier this week killed the prime minister of the Houthis’ government in the capital, Sanaa.
Ahmed al-Rahawi was killed in a Thursday strike on Sanaa along with “several” other ministers, the Houthis said in a statement on Saturday.
Al-Rahawi, who served as prime minister in areas of the divided country that the group controls, was targeted along with other members of the Houthi-led government during a workshop, the statement said.
The Houthis did not specify how many other ministers were also killed in the Israeli attack.
“We shall take vengeance, and we shall forge from the depths of wounds a victory,” Mahdi al-Mashat, a Yemeni politician and military officer who serves as the chairman of the Supreme Political Council of the Houthis, said in a video message later in the day.
Israel’s attack on Sanaa, which the Israeli military had said struck “a Houthi terrorist regime military target”, came as tensions in the region continue to escalate amid Israel’s war on Gaza.
🔴عاجل🔴
رئاسة الجمهورية اليمنية: نعلن استشهاد المجاهد أحمد غالب الرهوي رئيس الوزراء في حكومة التغيير والبناء مع عدد من رفاقه الوزراء يوم الخميس الماضي pic.twitter.com/sSpIqTukkn— قناة المسيرة (@TvAlmasirah) August 30, 2025
Translation: Yemeni Presidency: We announce the martyrdom of the mujahid Ahmed Ghaleb al-Rahawi, prime minister of the Government of Change and Construction, along with several of his fellow ministers, on Thursday.
Israel has repeatedly targeted Houthi positions in recent months as the Yemeni group has launched attacks on Israel and on Western vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, in what it says is a show of support for Palestinians in Gaza.
The group has repeatedly said that Israeli attacks will not deter its military operations.
On Wednesday, the Houthis claimed responsibility for a missile attack on southern Israel, which the country said was intercepted.
Escalating attacks
In its statement on Saturday, the Houthi presidency said its government and institutions would still be capable of carrying out their duties after the deadly Israeli attack.
“The blood of the great martyrs will be fuel and a motivator to continue on the same path,” it said.
Al-Mashat also said the Houthis will “continue the path of building our armed forces and developing their capabilities”.
“To our people in Gaza, our stance is steadfast, and will remain so until the aggression ceases and the siege is lifted, no matter the scale of the challenge,” he said.
It remains unclear how many people were killed in Thursday’s air strike on Sanaa.
Quoting unnamed sources, Israeli media reported on Friday that the Israeli army attacked the entire Houthi cabinet, including the prime minister and 12 other ministers.
The attack came four days after Israeli strikes on the Yemeni capital on August 24 killed 10 people and wounded more than 90, according to health officials.
The Israeli military said it had targeted Houthi military sites and the presidential palace in that attack.
Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut noted that Israel has said it will “continue to target Houthi-related targets, meaning that anything that could be used militarily or politically by the rebel group” will be a target for the Israeli military.
“The [Israeli] defence minister, Israel Katz, had previously noted that Israel’s strikes on Yemen weren’t really doing enough to deter the group from launching” attacks against the country, Salhut said.
As a result, Katz said “he wanted to target their leadership similar to what Israel has done with assassinations within other political groups across the region, like Hezbollah, like Hamas, like Islamic Jihad”, she added.