Click to see full-size image. (X)
The Houthis (Ansar Allah) on December 24 confirmed that one of their top missile and drone experts was killed, issuing a call for the public to attend an official funeral for him and several other senior commanders in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, the next day.
The fate of Zakaria Abdullah Yahya Ahmed Hajar first came into question in May, when the Yemeni Defense Line news site reported that the shadowy expert was killed in a United States strike that targeted a headquarters of the Houthis north of Sanaa in March.
The strike was a part of a military campaign launched by the U.S. in response to Houthi attacks on ships linked to Israel in waters near Yemen over the war in the Gaza Strip.
Hajar, 39, also known by his nom de guerre “Hajer,” hails from the Rahban area in the northern Yemeni province of Saada, the heartland of the Houthis.
In a poster shared by Houthi media, Hajar was described as a Major General, one of the highest ranks in Yemeni military hierarchy.
Hajar is the first from right to left. Click to see full-size image. (X)
In its May report, Defense Line described him as an expert in missile and drones who worked closely with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and headed the drone force of the Houthis. According to the site, he received military and ideological training in Iran, Lebanon, and Syria.
Hajar was described by Defense Line as being a very influential commander within the group, who enjoyed strong backing from its leader, Abdulmalik al-Houthi.
The site even reported that Hajar is connected through marriage to the family of the Houthi leader, and that his brothers also hold senior positions within the group.
In 2022, Saudi Arabia added Hajar to its terrorism list, along with four other individuals linked to the Houthis. At the time, the Kingdom said that the five were involved in the missile and drone forces of the Houthis, smuggling weapons, and in attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea, Arabian Sea, and Gulf of Aden.
The death of Hajar was a serious loss for the Houthis. Nevertheless, it didn’t affect the operational capabilities of the group.
In May, the U.S. agreed to end its campaign against Yemen in a deal brokered by Oman. The deal was a major victory for the Houthis, who continued to target ships linked to Israel and the country itself until a peace plan was put into action in Gaza in October.
It’s worth noting that Israel waged its own military campaign against Yemen after the U.S. pulled out, and managed to assassinate Major General Muhammad Abd al-Karim al-Ghamari in an attack on Sanaa in August.
Ahmed Ghaleb Nasser al-Rahawi al-Yafei, the prime minister of the Houthi-led government, was separately killed by Israel in the capital in the same month.
Despite these losses, the Houthis remain the best out of Iran’s allies in the Middle East when it comes to operational security and counter-intelligence.
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if you do the history you will find that the british empire started the war against yemen way back in the 1800s and if you were up to speed, a big if, then surprise, israel is king charles kingdom. maybe you had a clue when they gave the jews the lease holding in 1948.????? maybe too hard. allegedly
imagine the world’s a chess board and the countries pieces its not hard . join the dots.
houthies need to develop nuclear power