Earlier Israeli strikes on Sanaa kill Houthi-backed PM, ministers, Houthis say

SANAA -- Yemen's Houthi group said on Saturday that Prime Minister Ahmed al-Rahawi of the Houthi-backed government, along with several other ministers, was killed in Israeli airstrikes on the capital Sanaa on Thursday.

"We announce the martyrdom of Ahmed Ghaleb al-Rahawi, prime minister of the Government of Change and Construction, along with a number of his fellow ministers on Thursday," the group said in a statement.

It said the officials were hit during a workshop reviewing government activities over the past year. Several other ministers were wounded and remain in the hospital. The statement did not say how many ministers were killed.

The Houthis pledged the government would continue functioning and vowed retaliation against Israel "very soon."

The group had initially denied casualties from Thursday's strikes, despite reports of Rahawi's death.

Israel said its air force carried out a "significant operation" targeting a meeting of the Houthi cabinet in Sanaa while members were watching a speech by the group's leader, Abdulmalik al-Houthi, on the Gaza war. A Houthi source said Israeli warplanes launched 10 airstrikes on a building in southern Sanaa where the meeting was being held.

The strike marks the most serious blow to the Houthis since they began launching missile and drone attacks against Israel in November 2023 in support of Palestinians during the Gaza war.

The Houthis seized Sanaa in 2014, forcing the internationally recognized Yemeni government into exile in Aden. Since then, the group has controlled much of northern Yemen, including Sanaa and the Red Sea port of Hodeidah, and set up an unrecognized government in the capital.