Israeli airstrikes in Yemen on Thursday reportedly killed the prime minister of the Iran-backed Houthi movement, in what would mark Israel’s highest-level strike yet against the Iran-backed terror group that has waged a campaign of missile and drone attacks on Israel and international shipping.

Yemen’s Al-Jumhuriya channel and the Aden Al-Ghad newspaper reported that Ahmed al-Rahawi, the Houthis’ prime minister, was killed in an Israeli attack on an apartment in Sanaa. Several of his aides were also said to have been killed. Israel has not confirmed the strike.

The reported killing appeared to be separate from another Israeli strike Thursday that targeted what intelligence sources described as a gathering of 10 senior Houthi ministers outside the capital, where they had assembled to hear a speech by group leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi. Israeli media suggested the operation may have succeeded in eliminating much of the Houthis’ top political and military leadership, though results remain unverified.

Among those said to be in the crosshairs were Defense Minister Muhammad Nasser al-Attafi, the Houthis’ top military figure since 2016 with close ties to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and Hezbollah, and Chief of Staff Muhammad al-Ghamari, who survived a previous Israeli strike in June. According to reports, Israeli intelligence supplied real-time tracking of the officials’ movements, enabling the coordinated assault.

The Houthis denied the claims, saying Israel was striking “civilian targets and the Yemeni people because of their positions supporting Gaza.”

Earlier Israeli airstrikes largely focused on Houthi infrastructure, but Thursday’s bombing raids suggest an escalation toward decapitating the group’s leadership. An Israeli official told Channel 12 the military had been prepared to act earlier in the week but delayed until conditions aligned Thursday.

Since March 18, when Israel resumed major operations in Gaza, the Houthis have fired 72 ballistic missiles and at least 23 drones toward Israel, according to official figures. A July missile strike killed one civilian and wounded several others in Tel Aviv, triggering Israel’s first major bombardment of Yemeni targets.

Thursday’s operation marked Israel’s 16th strike in Yemen since November 2023, when the Houthis first began launching attacks in solidarity with Hamas. The group’s slogan openly calls for “Death to America, Death to Israel, [and] a Curse on the Jews.”

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