Houthi rebels' declared Prime Minister Rahavi is no more

Yemen's Houthi rebels have confirmed that their self-proclaimed Prime Minister Ahmed Ghalib Nasser al-Rahawi has been killed in an Israeli airstrike. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) carried out the strike during a meeting in the capital Sanaa on Thursday.

The Houthis claim that several of their ministers were also killed in the attack. Saudi-owned Al-Hadath reported that the Houthi foreign minister, as well as the ministers of justice, youth and sports, social welfare and labor, were among the dead. Several other ministers were also seriously injured.

The office of Houthi President Mahdi al-Mashat said that Deputy Prime Minister Muhammad Ahmed Miftah would temporarily replace Rahawi. However, observers say that Rahawi was essentially a symbolic prime minister and did not play a direct role in military and strategic decision-making.

The IDF said in a statement that the attack took place within hours of receiving information about the meeting. The full impact of the attack is still being assessed. Notably, the list of those killed does not include the Houthi movement’s supreme leader, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, or their defense minister and military chief.

The Houthis are an armed political and religious group representing Yemen’s Zaydi Shiite Muslim minority. They claim to be part of an Iran-backed “axis of resistance,” which also includes Lebanon’s Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas.

The country’s civil war began in 2014 after the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa. The Saudi-led coalition intervened in 2015, but the Houthis’ dominant position has not weakened. Although a UN-brokered ceasefire is currently in effect, the Houthi-Israeli conflict is complicating the situation.

Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, the Houthis have been launching missile and drone attacks on Israel and attacking commercial shipping in the Red Sea. They claim their actions are an expression of solidarity with the Palestinians.

In response, Israel has been carrying out a series of airstrikes on Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen. The latest attacks are seen as part of that conflict.

According to the international organization "Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), more than 160,000 people have been killed and more than 4 million have been displaced in Yemen's civil war so far.