Houthis Confirm Their Military Chief Was Killed By Israel

Maj. Gen. Muhammad al-Ghamari. Click to see full-size image. (Al-Masirah)

The military commander of the Houthis (Ansar Allah) in Yemen, Muhammad al-Ghamari, has died, the group announced on October 16.

In a statement, the Houthis said that al-Ghamari died “in the course of his jihadist work,” indicating that he was killed by Israel.

“Today, we in the Yemeni Armed Forces mourn for our dear Muslim, struggling Yemeni people … the jihadi leader, Maj. Gen. Muhammad Abdul Karim Al-Ghamari, with some of his companions and his martyred son Hussein, aged 13 years,” the statement reads. “His pure soul ascended while he was in the course of his jihadi work and performing his faith duty, a happy martyr within the caravan of great martyrs on the road to Jerusalem.”

Israel carried out an assassination attempt against al-Ghamari and other senior Houthi officials on June 12. At the time, reports indicated that al-Ghamari had survived. The IDF confirmed back then that it had targeted him, but said that the results of the attack were unclear.

Al-Ghamari was also reportedly among the targets of an Israeli attack on Houthi leaders on August 28, in which the group’s prime minister Ahmed al-Rahawi was killed, along with a dozen other officials.

Commenting on the Houthis’ announcement, Defense Minister Israel Katz said that al-Gamari died of wounds he sustained in the August attack.

“He joins his friends, the eliminated members of the Axis of Evil, in the depths of hell,” the minister said.

Katz said that he also visited the Military Intelligence Directorate’s so-called “Houthi command center” today with the directorate’s chief, Maj. Gen. Shlomi Binder, where he thanked the soldiers and commanders “for the excellent work they have done and have yet to do against the Houthis in the future.”

Click to see full-size image. (Ariel Hermoni/Israeli Defense Ministry)

Shortly after mourning al-Gamari, the Houthis issued another statement announcing that Maj. Gen. Youssef Hassan Ismail al-Madani had been appointed as their new military chief.

Shortly after the outbreak of the war on the Gaza Strip two years ago, the Houthis embarked on a daring military campaign against Israel. In the same statement mourning al-Gamari, the group said it carried out 758 operations against Israeli targets.

“The total number of operations carried out by the Yemeni Armed Forces, by the grace and support of God, reached 758, with 1,835 operations involving ballistic, cruise, and hypersonic missiles, drones, and boats,” the Houthis said.

“Similarly, the naval forces carried out 346 operations against Israeli vessels violating the Yemeni embargo on Israeli navigation in a theater of operations extending from the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandab, the Gulf of Aden, the Arabian Sea, and the Indian Ocean. These operations targeted more than 228 ships,” the group continued.

“By the grace and support of God, our air defenses were able, during the Battle of Tufan al-Aqsa, to shoot down 22 American MQ-9 reconnaissance aircraft and launch 40 operations to confront enemy aircraft of various formations, including strategic bombers, with more than 57 missiles,” it added.

A ceasefire entered into effect in Gaza under a United States-brokered deal on October 10. The Houthis welcomed the deal, and have not launched any attack since then.

The Houthis will likely refrain from any escalation as long as the ceasefire in Gaza is holding up. However, the same can’t be said about Israel. The end of the war in the Stip offers the Israeli military a chance to focus its efforts on other fronts, including Yemen.

Katz’s remark about the work the military is “yet to do against the Houthis in the future,” indicates that Israel is planning something against the Houthis.

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