Yemen's Houthis hold funeral for PM and senior officials killed in Israeli strike

Deaths were the highest-profile assassinations in months of attacks by Israel

Yemen's Houthi rebels held a funeral on Monday for their prime minister and 11 other senior officials killed in an Israeli air strike that penetrated the top echelons of the Iran-backed group.

Twelve coffins draped in flags were displayed at Sanaa's Al Shaab Mosque as masked gunmen patrolled the area and thousands of mourners flooded in.

Houthi prime minister Ahmed Ghaleb Al Rahwi, nine ministers and two cabinet officials were killed as they attended a government meeting in the Sanaa area on Thursday. Their deaths were the highest-profile assassinations to be announced in months of attacks by Israel as the two sides trade fire over the Gaza war.

People gather beside the coffins of Houthi officials at Al Shaab Mosque in Sanaa. AP

After vowing revenge for Thursday's attack, the Houthis on Sunday fired a missile at an Israeli tanker in the Red Sea, reprising a campaign against shipping that they have waged throughout the Gaza conflict. The missile landed close to the Israeli-owned Scarlet Ray with a "loud bang", the UK Maritime Trade Operations monitoring agency said.

The Houthis, part of Iran's "axis of resistance" of anti-Israel groups, have been firing missiles and drones at Israel and international shipping since November 2023, claiming they are acting in solidarity with the Palestinians.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the killings would not deter the Houthis but instead "strengthen the ongoing resistance against Israel", state media reported.

Israel has launched retaliatory air strikes against Houthi targets and the US also waged an intense bombing campaign against the group from March to May this year. Thursday's Israeli strike on Sanaa wiped out about half of the 22-strong Houthi cabinet, which plays a mainly administrative role.

Mr Al Rahwi, the late prime minister, was from Yemen's southern province of Abyan, which is not under Houthi control. The Houthis, who hail from divided Yemen's rugged north, have traditionally reserved the premiership for southerners.

Honour guards hold photos of the dead government officials during the funeral in Sanaa. Reuters

The US-based Yemen analyst Mohammed Al Basha said Thursday's strike may signal a shift in Israel's strategy towards targeted killings, an approach that has gutted the leadership of Gaza rulers Hamas and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The attack could mark "the beginning of a campaign of targeted assassinations against both civilian and military Houthi leadership, even at informal gatherings", he posted on X, calling it a "bad day" for the group. Other officials killed in the strike included Zahid Al Amadi, secretary of the cabinet, and Jamal Amer, minister of foreign affairs.

Separately, on Sunday, the UN said the Houthis detained at least 11 of its personnel based in Yemen, in a move that could hinder UN aid deliveries to the country. The arrests follow the detention by the Houthis of 23 other UN personnel who remain in custody.

“I strongly condemn the new wave of arbitrary detentions of UN personnel today in Sanaa and Hodeidah by Ansar Allah, as well as the forced entry into UN premises and seizure of UN property,” the UN's special envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg said in a statement, using the formal name for the Houthis.