An Israel airstrike targeting the top leaders of Yemen’s Houthi rebels in August killed the chief of staff of its military, officials said on Thursday, further escalating tensions between the group and Israel even as a ceasefire holds in the Gaza Strip.
The Houthis have acknowledged the killing of Major General Muhammad Abdul Karim al-Ghamari, who had been sanctioned by the United Nations over his role in the country’s decade long war.
Israel Defence Minister Israel Katz said al-Ghamari died of wounds he suffered in the attack and had joined “his fellow members of the axis of evil in
the depths of hell”.
Katz referred to the strike as “the strike of the firstborn”, likely a reference to a series of strikes Israel conducted on August 28. That attack killed Houthi Prime Minister Ahmed al-Rahawi and others. However, analysts suggested al-Ghamari may have been wounded in a different attack targeting the secretive group.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also acknowledged Israel killing al-Ghamari.
“Another chief of staff in the line of terror chiefs who aimed to harm us was eliminated,” Netanyahu said. “We will reach all of them.”