According to a report by BBC on Saturday, August 30, 2025, Yemen’s Houthi movement has announced the death of its self-declared Prime Minister, Ahmed Ghaleb Nasser al-Rahawi, following Israeli air strikes that struck the capital, Sanaa, earlier this week. The development marks one of the most significant blows to the leadership of the Iran-backed group since the escalation of regional hostilities linked to the Gaza conflict.
According to a statement issued by the Houthis, Rahawi was killed on Thursday along with several senior members of the group’s leadership. While the Houthis did not immediately disclose the names of the other victims, Saudi news outlet Al-Hadath reported that the strike also claimed the lives of the group’s foreign minister, as well as ministers responsible for justice, youth and sports, and social affairs and labour.
The Houthis further confirmed that a number of other top officials sustained “moderate to serious injuries.” In the wake of Rahawi’s death, Houthi deputy prime minister Muhammad Ahmed Miftah has been appointed to assume his role on an interim basis. Rahawi had only held the premiership since August 2024, making his tenure brief but occurring during a highly volatile period in Yemen’s ongoing civil war and the wider regional crisis.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which carried out the strike, initially described the operation as targeting a “military site” in the Sanaa area, though it did not provide additional details. As of Friday, the IDF has not publicly commented on reports confirming Rahawi’s death.
The Houthis have ruled much of northwestern Yemen since 2014, when they ousted the internationally recognised government from the capital, igniting a war that has left millions displaced and created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza last October, the Houthis have intensified their role in the conflict by launching missiles and drones at Israel and attacking commercial shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. The group claims these operations are acts of solidarity with Palestinians. Israel has responded with a series of air strikes against Houthi-controlled territories, including Sanaa, heightening fears of the Gaza war spilling further across the Middle East.
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