Israel assessing whether Yemen strikes killed Houthi defence minister and military chief

Israeli army radio report follows denials by Iran-backed group that senior figures died in Sanaa attack

A destroyed petrol station in Sanaa. Israel and the Houthis have regularly exchanged strikes since the outbreak of the Gaza war. AP

Israel's army radio said on Friday the military had targeted the chief of staff and defence minister of Yemen's Houthi militia air strikes on the rebel-held capital on Thursday and was awaiting confirmation on the outcome.

Members of the Iran-backed group denied reports that its leadership was hit.

Defence minister Mohammed Al Atifi has overseen attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea, while Israel previously tried to assassinate chief of staff Mohammad Al Ghamari in June.

The violence between Israel and the Houthis serves neither of their people

Read More

An Israeli military official said fighter jets struck a compound in the Sanaa area where senior Houthi figures had gathered, describing the attack as a "complex operation" made possible by intelligence-gathering and air superiority.

"We took advantage of an intelligence window of opportunity to carry out the strike and acted with precision and speed at the right moment," the official said.

Israeli media reported that the military hit various locations where senior Houthi officials had gathered to watch a televised speech recorded by their leader.

Senior Houthi leader Mahdi Al Mashat said in a statement late on Thursday that the Israeli reports were "fake news". The strikes were "failures and will remain failures, and our long arm will teach them the necessary lesson", Houthi-run Al Masirah TV reported him as saying.

A fireball rises from the site of an Israeli air strike in Sanaa, on August 24. Reuters

Another Houthi official, Nasr Al Din Amer, also said the strikes were unsuccessful. “Reports about targeting leaders in Sanaa are baseless,” he added.

The Houthis began launching drones and missile attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and on Israel after the war in Gaza began in October 2023, in what they say is a campaign in support of the Palestinian territory.

The Israeli military said it was operating "decisively" against the group in Yemen, "while simultaneously intensifying strikes" against Hamas in Gaza.

The Houthis have "been operating under Iranian direction and funding in order to harm the state and its allies since the beginning of the war [in Gaza], undermining regional stability and disrupting global freedom of navigation", the military said.

“As we warned the Houthis in Yemen: after the plague of darkness comes the plague of the firstborn,” Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on X, a reference to the 10 plagues described in the Torah, after Thursday's strikes.

In his speech, Houthi leader Abdul-Malik Al Houthi vowed to continue support for the Palestinian people "with determination and resolve", and said the Houthis were developing their military capabilities.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz, centre, has warned of 'plagues' against the Houthis. Photo: Israel Katz / X

Two drones launched from Yemen into Israel earlier on Thursday, and a missile intercepted a day earlier, are the latest in more than a year of attacks between Israel and the Houthis, part of a spillover from the war in Gaza.

On August 24, at least 10 people were killed and 92 injured in Israeli air strikes on Sanaa, the Houthis' health ministry said at the time. The group said the attacks hit an oil company and a power station in the south of the capital.

Israel said the targets included a military site in which the presidential palace, the Asar and Hizaz power plants and fuel storage site are located.

“The strikes were conducted in response to repeated attacks by the Houthi terrorist regime against the state of Israel and its civilians, including the launching of surface-to-surface missiles and UAVs towards Israeli territory in recent days,” the military said at the time.