Yemen’s Houthis said Thursday that their chief of staff, Muhammad Abd Al-Karim al-Ghamari, one of the Iran-backed group’s top military figures, had been killed “in the line of duty.”
Without directly accusing Israel of killing him, the Houthis said the conflict with Israel was not over, according to Reuters.
According to them, Israel “will receive its deterrent punishment for the crimes it has committed.”
Al-Ghamari was killed during a targeted Israeli airstrike on the capital Sanaa in late August, Jfeed reported.
Meanwhile, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) sources confirmed to The Jerusalem Post that they conducted strikes in Yemen on June 14 in an attempt to target a senior Houthi military leader.
“We will soon know if it was successful,” an Israeli source told the Post at the time.
Who are the Houthis?
The Houthis are an Iranian-backed armed group that controls most parts of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa and some western and northern areas near Saudi Arabia, Al Jazeera reported.
The Houthis emerged in the 1990s, but rose to international prominence in 2014 when the group rebelled against the Yemeni government, forcing it to step down and triggering a crippling humanitarian crisis.
The Houthis attacked commercial and military ships with potential Israeli ties to pressure Israel to end the war in Gaza.
On November 18, 2023, the group took over a cargo ship called the Galaxy Leader, which they have since turned into a tourist attraction for Yemenis, according to Al Jazeera.
The Houthis also fired rockets at Israel in what they said were acts of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, most of whom were captured.
“We emphasized to everyone that the (Houthi) operations are to support the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and that we cannot passively watch the aggression and the siege,” chief negotiator and Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam told Al Jazeera in December 2023.
Israel responded with strikes on Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.
Who was Muhammad Abdul Karim al-Ghamari?
According to newsMuhammad Abdul Karim al-Ghamari served as the Chief of General Staff of the Houthi forces.
It was a top priority target for Israel, reportedly the subject of a previous failed Israeli assassination attempt in June 2025.
Al-Ghamari was known to have close ties to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Hezbollah.
